<p>If so, is it the writing part that makes it difficult or is
both written and speech challenging?
How many Chinese classes would one need to gain a
a proficient understanding of the language (i.e. 7 classes?).</p>
<p>Also, do you think that the learning of Chinese may not be
more difficult than other foreign languages, but more
time-consuming due to larger differences from English structure?</p>
<p>Any comments welcome. Thankssssssss</p>
<p>Well it really depends on your attitude towards the language. I mean, spanish and french use alphabets but chinese is like completely new. The first few lessons will be very tough because you'll have to learn how to pronounce the words and trust me, it can get quite annoying especially when you are foreigner. </p>
<p>They have 4 different tones which u'll have to get used to. But it also depends why u want to learn chinese. Is it for SATII's? or is it for your own interest? Cuz you dont have to write or speak for the SATII's and that will save you a hell lota time. </p>
<p>Once you survive the first few weeks of chinese, I think learning it would be a breeze. Its sentence structures are extremely straight forward and even if you know the minimal amount of vocabulary, you can pretty much communicate everyday language. i think its one of the easiet languages to learn but memorising how to write the words can be very painful.</p>
<p>tlqkf2002, I disagree. Imo, Chinese is one of the most difficult languages to learn. Besides the 4 different tones, the entire grammar system is nothing like English or any other European language. To be able to write and read Chinese is even harder. You have to memorize characters, as opposed to "spelling them out". I do think it is easier, however, for an Asian person to learn Chinese than a westerner, for many of the concepts are similar.</p>
<p>learning a new language from a different root is always hard. like chinese, or arabic. so....if u are up for the challenge, chinese is the most difficult language to learn by a native english speaker</p>
<p>chinese is really hard...my parents are from China and I used to take Chinese lessons. They were really hard and I don't remember anything that I learned since I quit.</p>
<p>I'm Chinese and I can barely speak it, much less learn it from nothing like a native English speaker would have to.</p>
<p>i know...i'm chinese and I couldn't even learn to read and write it properly</p>
<p>I'm Chinese, and I can hardly speak two sentences. I doubt learning it would be too difficult for me, though, considering the fact that my parents speak the language at least 60% of the time. (The other 40% is split between a dialect of Chinese and English, along with a bit of Tagalog.) Therefore, I've probably picked up much of what is commonplace in everyday conversation, and hearing the difference between the tones isn't a problem at all.</p>
<p>For people who haven't grown up in a Chinese household, however, learning Chinese can be very difficult. In addition to the four different tones and how to distinguish them, you will have to learn to recognize and insane number of characters if you want to read something like...let's say, a newspaper. (According to my father, you need to be able to recognize at least 5,000 characters if you want to read it without a problem.) Writing can be extremely difficult, too. There is a certain way you have to draw the strokes - left to right, I think, and top to bottom.</p>
<p>Of course, my cousin's husband is caucasian, and he is nearly fluent in Chinese. (He started learning when he was in college, too!) So, it's quite possible to learn the language well if you are willing to put the time and effort into it. It's not a good idea to take it simply for the sake of the SAT IIs (which I wouldn't recommend taking, anyway, since a lot of the people who take the Chinese SAT IIs are native speakers), but if you find some sort of appreciation for the language, then it can be very worthwhile.</p>
<p>I should definitely take my own advice and ask my father to tutor me. ^^;</p>
<p>All I have to say is that the Chinese class I took at Berkeley started out with 35 people and ended with about 15.</p>
<p>Writing Chinese is really hard because you can't really spell out words; each word is a group of syllables represented by distinct characters... and the only way to learn the characters is to memorize them (bleh).</p>
<p>Speaking... I can't really say how hard it'd be to learn since my family speaks mostly Chinese at home.</p>
<p>I don't think high school level courses are enough to let you have a good grasp of chinese unless you have some kind of background that makes you familiar with it.</p>
<p>I took Mandarin in school and it's really hard. If you want a good grade, take something else!</p>
<p>I'm Chinese. As a three-year old, I used to be able to recite A LOT of classic Chinese poems. I remembered all of them until I was six. Then, I forgot them all :(</p>
<p>I can still speak and understand oral Mandarin. I'm just completely illiterate.</p>
<p>With the number of Chinese guys who've said Chinese is hard, it makes it demoralizing if you really wanted to learn the language.</p>
<p>But, if you really want to, go for it. It won't be easy, but if you wanted to go, do it...</p>
<p>I learned Chinese over the course of several years through majoring in Chinese language as an undergraduate and then going to live overseas after graduation. Over the next several years I made my living as an interpreter and translator. Yes, I am a monolingual native speaker of English of Western (that is, European-American) ancestry and I had never heard Chinese spoken by a native speaker before I was sixteen years old. I have had many delightful and rewarding experiences in life through learning Chinese. </p>
<p>But if you are asking whether learning Chinese is a good return for effort, compared to doing something else that is doable but equally hard, I would advise learning something else. As it is, Americans who know Chinese and keep up with the Chinese-language press (who are very rare) are mostly ignored in forming foreign policy toward China, and jobs that key on language specialization, even though critically understaffed, are notoriously poorly paid. I make sure my children grow up knowing some Chinese, but I make sure they learn subjects with more economic value. It's GOOD to major in a foreign language, and beneficial to your own intellectual understanding and to international understanding, but it is not economically expedient. </p>
<p>Zhu ni hao yun.</p>
<p>Tokenadult, you are my hero! </p>
<p>I am Chinese, and am completely illiterate. I know how to communicate in Cantonese with limited vocabulary, and my pronunciation of words are horrible. I butcher the language trying to speak it. Anyways, I think it is awesome when I hear other people speak Chinese.</p>
<p>If the tones in chinese are similar to that of Vietnamese learning to speak it correctly will be a pain in the ass. You will swear words that are pronounced differently sound exactly the same, but most native speakers will be able to tell the difference, and they will laugh as you make mistakes. You That is if Chinese tones are like Vietnamese.</p>
<p>hmm.... sorry if I mislead you.. well, I chinese standards are very low. I dont dare to read the newpaper article and its very difficult to even understand 50% of chinese TV programs. The only reason I think chinese is easy then is probably because my school doesnt put alot of emphasis on memorising how to write the characters... I mean I can speak out a well structured essay but when it comes to writing it down, I can only write the simplist ones.</p>
<p>I think its only writing which is difficult. But I think it was very easy for me as some of the pronounciation and meanings overlap with my native languuage korea. So even if I hear a word I never heard before, I can pretty much guess what it means. For a westerner, I have no idea. sorry!</p>
<p>"I think its only writing which is difficult. But I think it was very easy for me as some of the pronounciation and meanings overlap with my native languuage korea. So even if I hear a word I never heard before, I can pretty much guess what it means. For a westerner, I have no idea. sorry!"</p>
<p>What about tonality. Korean doesn't have tones. If you are able to correctly pronounce words with their correct tone, then that is great. Or does your school not care about correct tonality, because it should since using the wrong tone changes the meaning of the word.</p>
<p>I am Chinese and I know how to speak the language but I dont know how to write the words out...so Im taking Chinese I at my school right now, which offers 6 levels of Chinese classes, ranging from beginners 1 to advanced tutorial. Being a native speaker, I don't find the class too challenging. But I can definitely see from a westerner's view of point on this language. Foreign languages are always hard, French German Arabic etc and Chinese is no exception. You deal with the four tones, which are not too hard once you are familar with the sounds. Chinese grammar is not as difficult as some of you mentioned above, because it is more general in this series: Subject+Time+Verb+Object, which according to my teacher and other American students in my class, is a lot more easier than English grammar. The challenge however, goes to the characters. It is difficult to memorize each characters, for each stroke is quite different and a misplacement of a stroke can alter the meaning of a word entirely. But it is quite fun too because writing in characters is like drawing.
If you are fascinated by the Chinese language, why don't you try to learn it? Difficulty should not be a consideration in your mind if you are interested. My chinese teacher always says "Students in Chinese class are special!". lol.</p>
<p>if you are really interested, you have to go to the country. i think that's the only effective way to learn the language.</p>