Learning Mandarin – Difficulties and Opportunities

Mandarin language studies are problematic. Mostly because Mandarin is varies greatly from other languages that people inside west have made an effort to get to grips with before trying to learn Chinese, not because learning Mandarin is much more complicated. Mandarin is strange in many ways. The writing system is obviously completely different. Is undoubtedly no alphabet as being the one that Germanic and Latin derivates have. Instead an image defines every word; or rather a set of what referred to as strokes. For example, three stokes that together make a square means mouth, one combination of strokes that type of 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 fibers. For example; adding a syllable pronounced ma after a sentence turns it suitable question, adding guo after a sentence means that going without shoes happens in the past. Combining these basic examples; you go shanghai guo ma? Communicates the question: possibly you gone to Shanghai? The differences are however much more explicit that your. Even the sounds of spoken Chinese are completely different from western counterparts.

Chinese spoken words are not only based on syllables as western words are. Truly 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 methods. Each of the two syllables, ma and ma, can be pronounced with 5 different tones, creating a total matrix of 5 times 5 possibilities, and just one means mother. The tones are called tones but these not tones because A minor or G, they are pitch modulation. The very tone is a somewhat steady high toss. The second is a rising pitch. 3rd tone goes down and then out. The fourth is a pointy decline in pitch from high to low. The fifth is called the neutral tone and does not actually possess a modulation form.

All that sounds bloody difficult, as well as is, at least at first. Exactly how to learn mandarin chinese do you best go about beginning to grips with them? Because of course moment has come possible. In fact I know one lovely French girl called Julie, her Chinese is much better her English. In addition know a very talented German videographer that has lived in China combined with the three years; he often searches for that English word to describe something and upward saying it Chinese. Basically, I would argue, that Chinese is not so much bloody difficult as is actually bloody different.