Learning Mandarin – Difficulties and Opportunities

Mandarin language studies are problematic. Mostly because Mandarin is varies greatly from other languages that people in the west have made an effort to get to grips with before desiring to learn Chinese, not because learning Mandarin is much more. Mandarin is strange for most ways. The writing system is obviously completely different. Is undoubtedly no alphabet given that the one that Germanic and Latin derivates have. Instead dreams defines every word; or rather a sequence of what is called strokes. For example, three stokes that together make a square means mouth, one combination of strokes that regarding depicts a woman holding a kid means mother as a result on. But the differences don’t end there. The grammar is largely made up in the is called contaminants. For example; adding a syllable pronounced ma after a sentence turns it suitable question, adding guo after a sentence means that that it happens in the past. Combining these basic examples; you go shanghai guo mum? Communicates the question: possibly you gone to Shanghai? The differences are however much more explicit that the. Even the sounds of spoken Chinese are completely different from western counterparts.

Chinese spoken words are not only based on syllables as western words are. Utilized for mother in English is just 6 different sounds noted by each character; M, O, T, H, E and R. In Chinese there is 2 syllables, not four characters, ma and ma. The twist is that “mama” can be pronounced in twenty-five approaches. Each of 2 syllables, ma and ma, can be pronounced with 5 different tones, creating a total matrix of 5 times 5 possibilities, and merely one means mother. The tones are called tones but considerable not tones regarding A minor or G, they are pitch modulation. The very tone is a rather steady high set up. The second is a rising pitch. 3rd tone goes down and then move up. The fourth is a sharp decline in pitch from high to low. The fifth is called the neutral tone will not not actually have a modulation form.

All that sounds bloody difficult, make use of is, at least at first. Exactly how do you best go about beginning to grips with them? Because of course it is possible. In fact I know one lovely French girl called Julie, her Chinese is compared to her English. Furthermore know a very talented German videographer that has lived in China for only three years; he often searches for your English word to describe something and upward saying it Chinese. Basically, I would argue, that Chinese isn’t so much bloody difficult as salvaging bloody different.