Chinese Lessons Online - Why Learning Mandarin isn't as difficult as you think

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Chinese lessons online

• Why Mandarin Chinese isnt as difficult as you
  think

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First things first...

• Where is this coming from?
• Im a native speaker of English and Chinese
• Wanna shed a bit on learning Chinese

A (bigger) pic of me! ) (Im from HK, btw)
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First things first...

• Address 2 main questions today, e.g.
• Why do people think Chinese is difficult?
• Any ways to make it easier to learn?

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Why Mandarin is hard
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Why Mandarin is hard

• The language isnt hard
• Grammar is much simpler than English
• Very predictable rules
• Few exceptions too! (e.g. spelling, conjugations,
  phrasal verbs, etc. A LOT to learn here)

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Why Mandarin is hard

• So why do people think it is?
• 3 reasons, really

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Why Mandarin is hard

• Reason 1 Characters
• The most complex writing system across all
  languages
• Every character is unique
• More than 100,000 characters
• English only has 26!

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Why Mandarin is hard

• Reason 2 Literature
• Literary flair
• Study a year of Chinese - still find Chinese
  newspapers difficult to read
• Study half a year of English, youre breezing
  through English newspapers

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Why Mandarin is hard

• Chinese novels are ridiculously difficult to read
• Intricate shades of meaning impossible to derive
  unless you are taught or native
• Lots of cultural inferences that confuse even
  native speakers
• With English, you can derive meaning of imagery,
  plot, characters bit by bit and build up

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Why Mandarin is hard

• Reason 3 Writing
• Question at hand isnt difficulty...
• ...but one of standards
• Chinese writing grossly higher standards than
  English

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Why Mandarin is hard

• Chinese people are perfectionists here
• Not only does it have to be technically correct
• Cant use substitution as in English (e.g. Hes
  really nice - just replace nice with decent to
  give variety) - descriptors nouns are fixed
• Also have to be rhythmic (i.e. it sounds
  structured, e.g. Part A Part B. The structure of
  these have to be symmetric.)

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Why Mandarin isnt hard
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Debunking these myths

• Reason 1 Characters system
• Biggest debunker...scope!
• 100k words in existence...do you need em all?
• Probably not...
• So how many?
• Only 1,200 words!

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Debunking these myths

• Reason 2 Literature
• It takes a while longer to understand newspapers
• But why?
• Not to do with a lack of technical proficiency,
  but cultural discrepancies
• True that learning curve is steeper, but only in
  the beginning

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Debunking these myths

• Literature, poems, archaic Chinese is very
  difficult to decode almost like learning
  Chinese v2.0
• But do you need it?
• Probably not...okay to skip it and come back to
  it if interested

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Debunking these myths

• Reason 3 Writing
• Practice makes perfect
• Isnt that how you learnt English writing as
  well?
• Always the most difficult aspect of any language
• Because it takes time

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Debunking these myths

• Ask yourself - what proficiency do you need?
• Emails / SMS (friends) - pretty easy
• Technical reports (business / job) - fairly easy
• Newspaper / magazine / editorial reviews -
  moderate difficulty
• Novelist - very tough
• Write in archaic Chinese - reserved for the
  erudite folks

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Ways to make Mandarin easier
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Making Mandarin easier

• These might sound strange, but I think you need
  these
• (1) Understanding of structure
• (2) A plan

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Making Mandarin easier

• Whats structure?
• How the language works, i.e.
• (1) The pinyin system
• (2) Basic grammar counterparts (to your native
  language)
• (3) Stroke order

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Making Mandarin easier

• (4) Radicals (positioning and meaning)
• (5) Functional vocabulary

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Making Mandarin easier

• As you can see, I advocate a spoken based
  strategy
• I order the four pillars of language this way
• Speaking
• Listening
• Reading
• Writing

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Making Mandarin easier

• A plan?
• Be very realistic about how much time you have
  each day
• Be consistent
• Best if you have a tutor / course to guide you
  through
• Example on next slide

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Month Goals Tasks
1 Pinyin Master all 400 sounds of pinyin
2 Strokes radicals Learn 12 strokes, 10 stroke rules, and 40 most commonly used radicals
3 Basic grammar Learn 15 Chinese grammar points compare to English
4 Basic grammar Learn 15 more Chinese grammar points
5 Common expressions Learn 2 - 3 phrases a day
6 Vocabulary Start reading to increase vocabulary
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Making Mandarin easier

• Do I recommend a tutor?
• Yes...and no
• Yes for when youre more advanced
• Great to get real time, instant feedback
• More fun!

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Making Mandarin easier

• No because...
• The problem isnt in the idea...its in finding a
  compatible one
• Great Chinese Bad English?
• Great English Bad Chinese?
• Great Chinese English bad attitude?

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Making Mandarin easier

• Bilingual doesnt know how to teach?
• Chinese English bad pronunciation?
• ...you get the idea.

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Making Mandarin easier

• Seen LOTS of those
• Not to be perfect, but difficult to find a good
  tutor.
• Main reason is because Chinese culture is
  fundamentally very different to Western culture
• Difficult to establish equal grounds

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Making Mandarin easier

• Learning by yourself?
• I recommend this for the basics (beginners to
  intermediate)
• Cover a LOT more ground on your own (basics are
  always easy to grasp and very little room for
  error)

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Making Mandarin easier

• What about resources?
• I recommend online, but feel free to stick to
  books if you like the tangible feel better!
• Click below to read my review of Rocket Chinese,
  an online Chinese course - Ive posted a video
  demo video review textual review

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Conclusion
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Conclusion

• Mandarin isnt difficult to learn
• If you arent aiming to be the next Du Fu of
  China
• If youre looking to use Chinese to make friends
• If youre looking to talk in Chinese in daily
  social situations

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For more tips on Chinese culture, learning and my
recommended resources, please visit
http//rocket-chinese-review.com/
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??! (Thanks!)