<p>I'm a freshman in high school, and I'm very interested in the Chinese language, which is not offered as a course at my school. As of late, I've been trying to learn some Chinese through conversation with several of my friends, who are fluent, native speakers of the language. However, I am not a native speaker and major aspects of Chinese, especially reading and writing, are proving to be quite difficult for me. Through daily study and conversation with my friends, would it be possible for me to develop enough proficiency in Chinese to take the AP test by the end of my junior year?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>~SpaceBear</p>
<p>Hey FlyingSpaceBar,</p>
<p>I’m planning on doing this also. I heard that the test is difficult even for Native Speakers though.</p>
<p>The test isn’t exactly difficult for native speakers language-wise. Since I was born and raised in America, the cultural information is what is difficult for me, but I have little to no problem with speaking or listening. The reading and writing is a bit more complicated.</p>
<p>SpaceBear, if you really commit yourself to speaking in Chinese with your friends, I’m sure you’ll be good enough to succeed in 3 years.</p>
<p>It’s pretty hard. Know what you are getting into, and decide quickly: you don’t want to commit to this without trying hard, or else you’ll end up failing. Either go for it and work for it (I anticipate it being hard, I’m chinese but can’t speak it [embarassment LOL] b/c it’s hard), or just not do it at all.</p>
<p>the test is NOT difficult for native speakers at all >.>
well I guess it depends on the test takers but among those who have taken the test whom I know of, no one has gotten anything but a 5 (that includes myself also).
But then again, I go to a magnet school</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you need to do both a writing and speaking section. It wasn’t very hard for me but then again, I speak only Chinese at home. I think if you really work at it, then you can do it. But I would practice the writing part starting from now.</p>
<p>The culture part is annoying but it’s also pretty open-ended. Recent political history is irrelevant so that makes it easier.</p>
<p>Any other specific questions, feel free to ask =)</p>
<p>Actually, it’s supposed to be pretty difficult. I’m self-studying, but it’s kind of tough. The cultural and speaking is the hardest. You have to give a 4 minute presentation…</p>
<p>The reading and writing is easy for me. The listening is hard only because I have a very limited attention span.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m just freaking out. The average for the native speaker is 4.8. But for a non-native speaker, I’m thinking you’re gonna have to work your butt off.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice!</p>
<p>From those who have taken the test, I’ve heard that it’s a breeze for native speakers but very challenging for those who aren’t…I can already tell the reading portion will be the most difficult for me, so I’m working a lot on learning the characters. Hopefully, having the summer to study will allow me to catch up on what I may have missed from not being enrolled in an actual Chinese course : )</p>