Learning Mandarin

[sja360]

right i was wondering if there was a basic noobie guide to learning some mandarin and the background on the language online?
reason for it is the local chinese im at the chef's speak it and i'd like to speak to them sometimes instead of the pointing at stuff

 

[Raymond Lin]

right i was wondering if there was a basic noobie guide to learning some mandarin and the background on the language online?
reason for it is the local chinese im at the chef's speak it and i'd like to speak to them sometimes instead of the pointing at stuff

so you can get discount ?

You can't learn mandarin online i am afriad, the difficult aspect about Chinese is its pronucation, a sound can mean about 4 different words depends on the context, when they all sound the same. Take some classes if you are serious, or get someone who speak mandarin to teach you a few phases instead would be easier. To have a converstaion....it'll take months and months or even years of learning and practice

 

[Lt. Manlove]

Definately one of the most difficult languages to learn

 

[SpicyDuck]

In my local Chinese, I regularly speak to the people about their language, country and culture. I think it's something fresh for them and they definitely have more than enough reason to be proud.

Afterall, their language and culture is so rich and amazing.

The counter-woman and chef come out and speak to me. I correct their English, and they correct my mandarin or teach me something new. They speak Cantonese to eachother so I get the Cantonese equivalents, also. But that might be a bit too much for some people.

Mandarin is difficult to read, write, speak and listen to. It has to be one of the most difficult languages to learn in my opinion.

Anyway, good luck and, if you find it's too much for you, I'd advise learning Japanese which is a LOT simpler in terms of pronunciation, and they actually have an alphabet (two, actually) which you can use in place of the Chinese symbols*.

*Note: Japanese "borrowed" chinese symbols thousands of years ago. Chinese symbols in Japanese (Kanji) replace whole words, but they can also be written using the Japanese alphabet .

Phil.

 

[Raymond Lin]

just to clarify, you don't write madarin or write cantonese.

You speak Mandarin, and cantonese, but write is always Chinese. All Chinese who can read, no matter what they speak should be able to read it. Except that there are 2 version of the written Chinese Language, Simply and Traditional.

 

[SpicyDuck]

just to clarify, you don't write madarin or write cantonese.

You speak Mandarin, and cantonese, but write is always Chinese. All Chinese who can read, no matter what they speak should be able to read it. Except that there are 2 version of the written Chinese Language, Simply and Traditional.

I knew that!

Shame about the whole traditional and simplified thing though. Makes things so much more difficult in the long run, as it introduces another barrier to communicating when, before, it was all the same.

Phil.

 

[sja360]

so you can get discount ?

lol i aint like that

just interested in learning it, it sounds like it could a few years to learn basic phrases like "name is xxx" "im x years old" as i've heard its best to learn the tones and try to learn the background of the mandarin alphabet before jumping in the deep end.
i wont be interested really in learning to write or read the language just speaking it, unless i'm abducted and taken to china

 

[Raymond Lin]

lol i aint like that

just interested in learning it, it sounds like it could a few years to learn basic phrases like "name is xxx" "im x years old" as i've heard its best to learn the tones and try to learn the background of the mandarin alphabet before jumping in the deep end.
i wont be interested really in learning to write or read the language just speaking it, unless i'm abducted and taken to china

First of all, there are no alphabet. to learn it, you need to memorise each and every word. Learn how it is written, and Learn how it is pronounced. To be fluent, you need to know about 4000 words off your head, or there about.

 

[great advice]

I grew up with a lot of Mandarin speaking people and learnt a fair bit, i cant speak fluent but after more than 30 years of speaking the language with friends and living with people who speak it fluently its still very hard for me to have a conversation with someone.

Think of it like this, we can say there, their, they're and all 3 have different meanings. Mandarin has a similar way of using the language but with millions more examples - by far the hardest language ive ever come across.

 

[SpicyDuck]

sja360, their is no Chinese alphabet.

Instead of a word for "house"... it's just like having a picture of a house. No word. (Note: a picture of a house is not Chinese for "House")

Every word has it's own picture and meaning.

It's best to approach Chinese in two parts, in my opinion.

1. Learn how to speak it to a semi-fluent level.
2. Start learning the characters for each and every word. Which are all different.

It will take a very long time before you're any good. Maybe doing something a little easier, first, will give you a nice start. Even if you learn Spanish or something, it will teach you to deal with and understand how word-order can be changed and why.

Just a suggestion, mind. Most people find that just jumping into a language like Chinese really puts them off, as it's so difficult.

Phil.

 

[sja360]

right so the chinese use pictures instead of an alphabet? that does i suppose make it harder. does each picture/symbol represent a word or can it represent a single letter aswell?
maybe i should just start looking for information rather than posting here