<p>I'm speake Chinese perfectly, I'd say this: 4 years of Chinese training at best would prepare you for the common tasks (asking for direction, buying things, registering hotels), there's NO way you can understand any paragraph of Chinese Constitution nor any paragraph in a Chinese business contract, UNLESS you are a language GENIUS.
Speaking is RELATIVELY easy, reading is way harder, writing is probably impossible for some people...I mean, go to <a href="http://www.sohu.com%5B/url%5D">www.sohu.com</a>, and try to imagine what it would be like to memorize all the words on that site....</p>