Anyone learnt Mandarin ?

wozzizname · 27 Oct 2006 at 19:35

I'm contemplating learning Mandarin, but am wondering how hard it is. Has anyone studied the language, and if so have you any advice or recommended resources before I take the plunge ?

edit - I'm hoping to apply for a Uni course next year combining business and chinese studies, so want to check my ability to pick up the language before I apply for the course.

wozzizname · 28 Oct 2006 at 15:36

Right , obviously no Mandarin students about - in that case has anyone used any home learning packages, for any language, that they can recommend ?

MikeTimbers · 28 Oct 2006 at 15:48

I spent two years in Hong Kong and conspicuously failed to learn any Cantonese despite having a natural ability with languages. You cannot underestimate the difficulty of learning Asian tonal languages. Each syllable can mean multiple things depending on how you say it. Cantonese has 13 tones; mandarin has less but I seem to remember it was still 7 tones or so.

I can't help but I do wish you luck.

Scam · 28 Oct 2006 at 15:49

Isn't Mandarin tonal? Meaning it would be nigh on impossible to teach yourself?

EDIT: Beaten!

Feef · 28 Oct 2006 at 17:05

I'm studying Mandarin at uni at the moment, though admittedly have only been doing it for 6 weeks or so. It is very difficult, and involves a lot of straight rote learning, writing characters again and again, while simeltanously learning the pinyin (roman alphabet + tones) and practising how to pronounce it.

There are 5 tones, which at exaggerated for emphasis at this stage of the course, but not sure how I'll get on with them when the language speeds up a bit. It's taught fairly well here (Edinburgh), lots of tutorials to practise speaking, writing etc, and a decent language lab to work in yourself.

I'd say it's definitely possible (hell, I hope so

), but I did spend some time in China before I began, got used to seeing and hearing it and learnt basic phrases to keep myself alive when my girlfriend wasn't there to do it for me (who admittedly also has about the same knowledge of the language as me, I was just timid..)

Go for it, if you think you can deal with simply sitting down and learning the characters etc. I find it incredibly rewarding every time I can say something new or write a new word, mostly because the characters look so beautiful, can be quite theraputic

jesta · 28 Oct 2006 at 17:46

Seeing as I speak Cantonese I thought learning Mandarin wouldnt be that hard. Went to a few Mandarin lessons,my god did i find it hard.It was really hard for me cos I still had the Cantonese accent when speaking it.

robmiller · 28 Oct 2006 at 17:59

Email OvertoneBliss, he learned Mandarin and is off in China now teaching English to students over there

SpeedFreak · 28 Oct 2006 at 20:06

jesta said:
Seeing as I speak Cantonese I thought learning Mandarin wouldnt be that hard. Went to a few Mandarin lessons,my god did i find it hard.It was really hard for me cos I still had the Cantonese accent when speaking it.

Apparently it is easier to learn Mandarin if you don't know Cantonese. At least that's the excuse my girlfriend uses

jesta · 28 Oct 2006 at 20:18

SpeedFreak said:
Apparently it is easier to learn Mandarin if you don't know Cantonese. At least that's the excuse my girlfriend uses

Suppose thats true as theres no chance of saying the word in cantonese like I do

SpeedFreak · 28 Oct 2006 at 20:21

I actually find Cantonese OK. The structure is obviously reversed, but I can keep track of the sounds quite well and generally can listen fine. Mandarin is a very different sound, much smoother and I struggle to differentiate anything lol. My Cantonese is progressing, so the next time I'm in Hong Kong it shoud be even more fun.