Has anyone learned Mandarin?

[Sam988]

I recently started learning it, it's very different from the languages i've learned so far (it's also definitely more difficult!), but i'm finding it very interesting.


Has anyone here already learned mandarin to a more advanced level? What were your struggles, and how much time did it take for you to get at the level you're at now?

[darthangel]

The hardest part is memorizing and writing the characters, but the pinyin should be easy to remember. At first, you'll be really confused about the tones and inflection but after about a couple weeks its a piece of cake.

The learning of the characters as always is the hardest part but then again I took college courses where they taught you the traditional characters instead of the simplified, but learning simplified characters will make your life much easier since only Hong Kong and Taiwan use the traditional characters.

Also, since I'm Chinese-American but my parents speak Cantonese I've picked up enough from them to do well in my language classes. Remember, characters are everything!

[newmark]

At the beginning learning the tones was the hardest part. In fact it took me 3 months to get a basic grasp of tones and probably a few more years to really master them. I also struggled with the vocabulary as my native language is English, and although I had studied other languages, they had always been other European languages, so the vocabulary was more closely related. With Chinese I had to remember totally new sets of sounds and form new connections in my mind. However, the more you study the language, the easier it gets. With Spanish I found it easier at the beginning, then more difficult as I had to learn the grammar. This is one advantage of Chinese. It is a very logical language and the grammar is straightforward.
I agree with Darhangel that the characters are the hardest part to learn. I made the mistake of not approaching them at the beginning. I don't suggest anyone limit themselves to learning to speak at the same speed as learning to write, but I think trying to slowly learn the characters at the beginning is best. I study the traditional characters as I live in Taiwan and wish to read some of the classical literature eventually. At the moment I'm limited to reading children's adventure novels, but this is a great way to improve as well.

[ilovetoday]

Hi, I am learning french at the moment but I was thinking forward towards the next language to learn, and I was thinking mandarin also. I have an excellent website- as I have been teaching myself this site lets you keep track of your progress and you can enter in at any level, it may take a day or two to get familiar with how it all works.

Livemocha: Learn Languages Online - English, Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, å♥¦ä¼šè‹±è¯♥

I have also found that at the start I was not so wrapped up in this site until I enrolled in a course, then after doing two weeks worth of lessons I found that there are ways in which I learn easier than others because they have 6 different types of lessons and you can create online flash cards.

-Sorry I know I am raving, but you will see what I mean if you give it a serious go.

[ilovetoday]

And it is all free too. The best part I find is when you make writing and speaking submissions, people who speak the language you are learning help correct grammar and spelling and pronounciation.
if you do refer me, Julia

[Sam988]

Thanks for the answers guys. I can get a lot of what you're saying since i already had some contact with mandarin. I wonder how much time it takes to get "fluent" in it? By fluent i mean to be able to speak, write, read, hear and understand easily.

Originally Posted by ilovetoday

I have an excellent website- as I have been teaching myself this site lets you keep track of your progress and you can enter in at any level, it may take a day or two to get familiar with how it all works.

Livemocha: Learn Languages Online - English, Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, å*¦ä¼šè‹±è¯*

hah,, that is exactly the website that i have been using the most when learning mandaring. Great site indeed.