Is Learning Chinese Hard Or Not?
Interesting things happening in the Chinese Learning Blogosphere. East Asia Student already reported about it yesterday but I am going to share my opinion as well.
It all started when John from WooChinese wrote that Learning Chinese Isn’t Hard. Then two days after another John from Sinoplice answered by reasoning Why Learning Chinese Is Hard.
I think that there is no universal truth is Chinese difficult to learn or not. It depends on who is learning it! I don’t find Chinese being the most difficult language, because I tried learning Latin and that was a real pain in the butt. I hate grammar so that is one reason why Chinese is better choice for me than Latin or German (that I also have studied).
But there are other reasons too why I don’t find Chinese language so difficult. Firstly, I think Chinese is the most interesting language I know. It would have been cool to know Latin but I didn’t really have a good reason to learn it. Secondly, I need Chinese everyday so I have great motivation to learn it. I didn’t want to become an Ancient history researcher so I didn’t have any use for Latin. I also forgot Swedish (studied 6 years) and German (studied 5 years) completely because I never used them.
Learning Chinese isn’t easy, but it’s not the hardest thing that I’ve tried to learn. It will take a lot of time and energy to become fluent, but I know I can do it. But I could have all the time in the world and still wouldn’t understand space physics.
14 Comments
seija sultan
Hei,
blogissani välitan poikani kirjoituksia Kiinan kielen opiskelusta ja varsinaisesta lääketieteen opiskelustaan Dalianissa Dalian Medical Universityssä. Olen laittanut blogisi linkkilistaani.
Kiva seurata sinunkin kokemuksiani…ehkä on kiva tietää, miten linkkiisi jouduin: tyttäreni Aisha opikelee LaTrobe yliopistossa Melbournessa ja oli törmännyt linkkiisi, kun nyt ollaan koko perhe Kiinasta kiinnostuneita.
Hyvää jatkoa!
[Reply]
Sara
Hei Seija, Olipa mukava saada tallainen kommentti! Hauska sattuma, etta loysit blogiini. Taytyykin heti ruveta seuraaman blogiasi, ensi vilkaisulta naytti erittain mielenkiintoiselta. Ei kuitenkaan ole kovin montaa blogia, joka kertoisi suomalaisen elamasta Kiinassa. Ja Kiina todella on kiinnostava paikka!
Minulla itseasiassa on kaveri joka opiskelee poikasi kanssa samassa kaupungissa, Dalian Maritime Universityssa. Jos poikasi haluaa, niin voin valittaa kaverini yhteystiedot jos eivat ole viela tavanneet.
Hyvaa jatkoa myos sinne!
[Reply]
Beth
You have the boyfriend reason as well. ;)
It’s one of the hardest things I’ve tried to learn, but my aptitude for languages isn’t the best. :D
The remembering part is the hard part. :P But then you have more motivation than me. :D I respect that.
[Reply]
Sara
Beth, I have to say that I’m not language person at all, but Chinese language is too fascinating :) And yes the remembering part is hard and my memory isn’t that good. So lots of dark work will be on my way before fluency. Let’s see :)
[Reply]
lj
As a Chinese,i just can”t go further in learning Chinese.There are lots of things that i still cant understand,e.g,the poetry,the minds of some passages,some essay,a lot.and the grammar.haha ,but i think you can make it^^your hardwork will be paid
[Reply]
Pingback:
Sara
Thank you for commenting LJ :) Actually I don’t know everything about Finnish language either. I can’t explain the grammar, I just know how to use it. And poetry is also one of the most difficult aspects in a language to understand. Poetry isn’t really my thing.
[Reply]
Tony Mustaffa
How I envy you. Learning Chinese in China! Of course learning Chinese is hard but it is not impossible. I have been studying Chinese for 2 years on my own and it has already surpassed my French which I have studied on and off for the past 20 years! It’s all about being interested and having fun.
加油!
[Reply]
Sara
Thank you for commenting Tony. I totally agree that is about being interested and having fun. If something is really boring you can’t learn it as well as you would do by having some fun with it. Motivation is the key.
[Reply]
Seija
Hei Sara,
poikani Dalianissa mieluusti ottaisi yhteyttä tuttavaasi Maritime Universityssä.
Oletko ajatellut vierailla Dalianissa?
Huomasin viestisi blogissani. Mukavaa, että pidit siitä, kiitos!
[Reply]
Sara
Seija, Lahetin ystavalleni tiedon asiasta ja linkin blogiisi. Dalian on aika kaukana taalta Guangzhousta, joten ainakaan seuraavan vuoden aikana tuskin ehdin siella vierailla.
[Reply]
Junjie
Chinese is difficult, but that is exactly why I’m so motivated to learn it.
I’m sure you can do it, too.
[Reply]
Sara Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Thanks for commenting Junjie. Chinese is just so fascinating language that I have to learn it. Thank you for support and good luck with your own studies!
[Reply]
Pingback: