With this being the 365th day I've posted, i figured it's a good reason to talk about my experience (so far) of learning Chinese. Over a year ago I finally took some time off from working so I could concentrate on learning Chinese. Yep there are those who can manage to do both, but I am not one of those people.
For about seven years I had tried to learn but there just never was enough time in they day. Chinese is also not a language you can really just pick up by living here. The writing system makes it impossible to learn reading and writing without ever studying it, and the speaking system is the most evil ever created by man. This is because it's based on a tone system where there are five different ways to pronounce any word (high, falling, falling then rising, rising, the last one i can only describe as "dot") and the way you say it gives it completely different meaning.
This is especially hard for me as I cannot hear tones very well. But add to this the fact that just like the way Americans speak English, native speakers here a very fast, casual, and lazy when it comes the way they speaking. Meaning they don't really make tones, yet they are capable of understanding each other. Which means it's hard to pick up the tones, but yet if you speak without the tones, they can't really understand you...even though they can understand each other that way...double standard!
Well that's all just a long way to say that Chinese is difficult and the only way to improve is devote a lot of time to study. Thankfully the change in my visa allowed me to take time off and just focus on being a student of Chinese. I started off in a class, but that didn't work out. This was because despite my best efforts of being a moron, some Chinese had seeped into my subconscious. So the beginner classes were too easy for me, and having been a teacher, I know that there is nothing worse for other students than a student who is a much higher level than them. But the problem came when in the higher classes I could not keep up because I had never learned to read or write. Eventually I decided the best thing was to go ahead and do private study with tutors.
The studying itself started out pretty easily. Chinese grammar is very simple and logical, so it's easy to pick up. However I did hit a snag a little while in, as the more advance grammar drove me crazy. It's also hard to practice since most people don't even know that grammar exists. Unlike the west where we want to sound as eloquent or as clever as possible when we speak and write, Chinese is used just to get the point across.
The most frustrating part about Chinese for me has always been vocabulary. It's impossible for me to learn any new word in any language without seeing it written down. The benefit to western languages is that you can spell it out in your head and "see" it, and seeing it also shows you how to pronounce it. In Chinese there isn't this luxury. There is no way to really spell a word, and seeing the written character doesn't tell you how to pronounce the word. This means that somebody could tell me a word 100 times and there is no way for me to remember it.
As a result all of my vocabulary comes from my textbooks. Much of my time was spent on writing the new characters over and over again until i knew how to recognize them and how to write them. It was frustrating to say the least, but there was also a quiet tranquility to it. Eventually over time I was able to see the patterns in the formation of words and the word roots, which has allowed me to pick up new words a bit quicker.
Although my biggest difficulty in speaking is still my vocabulary limit, i don't know enough words to really express things the way I want. Mainly because textbooks teach a variety of subjects, but never go in depth enough on any of them to really give the words needed for anything other than a surface level chat. Thankfully I've graduated from learning textbooks and gone on to more practical books which use real life articles, stories, shows, etc to teach real life application of the things I've learned over the year.
I still have a long way to go though. It took me about a year of studying eight or more hours a day to get a strong base down. Now it's all about being able to use that base to become a more capable communicator. While I can understand more of the world around me, I still want to be able to run a business in Chinese, be able to deal with all aspects of my life on my own, be able to use my Chinese ability as an advantage should I move to another country.
As for tips I'd give anybody who wants to learn Chinese. You really need things that slowly build on a base they set and repeat old things while incorporating new ones. which means podcasts are out, they don't build. if you are starting out you need to get a good audio learning program that builds on itself. Pimsleur is a good one. Also I can't stress flash cards enough. Anki is a great program and most Chinese textbooks already have decks that you can download. There is also a program for it that allows you to add words and it automatically inserts the definition, pronunciation and a few other key things you need.
Of course you will need a good textbook. The one pictured above the most popular one used here in Taiwan. But it's in Traditional Chinese (used in Taiwan). If you are looking to learn Simplified Chinese (used in China), I'd recommend a series called Far East Everyday Chinese (simplified version). Although if you learn Traditional Chinese, you can figure out Simplified Chinese, but not necessarily the other way around.
Yep that's my first textbook. It took me over seven years to get through that book, but thankfully not so long to get through the rest of the series. As much as I'd like another year to be able to study full time, that's financially not so practical. Here's hoping that I can get as much progress in before needing to get back into the working world, and that possibly I'll be able to continue studying while working. My Chinese ability goal is out there. let's just hope i can reach it without having to work for seven years again just so I can take one off to complete my study.
