Learning Mandarin – Difficulties and Opportunities

Mandarin language studies are problematic. Mostly because Mandarin is unique from other languages that people inside west have attempt to get to grips with before trying to learn to speak chinese Chinese, not because learning Mandarin is much more. Mandarin is strange in many ways. The writing system is obviously completely different. Is undoubtedly no alphabet as the one that Germanic and Latin derivates have. Instead a picture defines every word; or rather a sequence of what is termed as strokes. For example, three stokes that together make a square means mouth, one combination of strokes that regarding depicts a woman holding a kid means mother as a result on. But right after don’t end generally there. The grammar is largely made up of what is called particles. For example; adding a syllable pronounced ma after a sentence turns it best suited question, adding guo after a sentence means that that it happens in items on the market. Combining these basic examples; you go shanghai guo mummy? Communicates the question: a person have gone to Shanghai? The differences are however much more explicit that this. Even the sounds of spoken Chinese are completely different from western counterparts.

Chinese spoken words are not only defined by syllables as western words are. Hugely for mother in English is just 6 different sounds noted by each character; M, O, T, H, E and R. In Chinese there is two syllables, not four characters, ma and ma. The twist is that “mama” can be pronounced in twenty-five approaches. Each of 2 syllables, ma and ma, can be pronounced with 5 different tones, developing a total matrix of 5 times 5 possibilities, and only one means mother. The tones are called tones but these not tones while A minor or G, they are pitch modulation. The very tone is a somewhat steady high toss. The second is a rising pitch. Method to tone goes down and then move up. The fourth is a sharp decline in pitch from high to low. The fifth is called the neutral tone will not not actually possess a modulation form.

All that sounds bloody difficult, of course you can is, at least at first. So how do you best go about beginning to grips with the program? Because of course it’s very possible. In fact I know one lovely French girl called Julie, her Chinese is better than her English. I also know a very talented German videographer that has lived in China for just three years; he often searches for the English word to explain something and ends up saying it Japanese. Basically, I would argue, that Chinese is not so much bloody difficult as it’s not bloody different.