The Lingua Franca is a cross-cultural communications site devoted to helping people in the English-speaking, Western world understand the business, culture and communications of Greater China.
I am an American, hold a B.A. in Chinese, and have an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. I have been doing business in Greater China since 1996, and living here since 2001.
Feel free to leave a comment with any specific business or cultural questions. Any question I can’t answer will be presented to the Oracle (aka Mrs. Black) who, as a genuine Chinese person, will probably give you better advice than I ever could.
8 Comments
January 17, 2008 at 5:09 am
Hello, I’m a high school student and i will be studying abroad in Taiwan from August 2008- June 2009. I’ve been studying French and Spanish and have achieved proficient speaking and comprehension of both languages in the last few years. I’ve had a recent interest in Mandarin and and now worried I will be unable to become fluent during the year i live there. I have a good lingual work ethic and plan to study the language more than anything else while im there. Will 10 months be enough for fluency?
January 17, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Ross,
You must have read my post on how difficult it is to learn Mandarin and think that I mean that people can’t make any progress unless they spend years at the task. That’s not what I mean. Here’s the thing–most people don’t work very hard on language study. Either that, or they don’t really understand what it takes to learn a language well (i.e. total dedication, unending curiosity, iron will).
Mandarin is a really tough language for Westerners, but that doesn’t scare everyone. Ask yourself this question: “Does knowing that Mandarin is really tough to learn, nothing at all like learning French or Spanish, scare me or make me even more excited to learn it?” If the answer is the latter, then you have a good chance of getting conversationally fluent in spoken Mandarin in ten months. So much of learning Mandarin is your level of motivation (e.g. I filled six pocket notebooks full of vocabulary in my first year of study–how’s that for hypermotivated? That’s also a challenge).
You have the advantages of being young, motivated, and willing to really focus your energy on language study. At 19, when I first learned Mandarin, I made it my mission in life to do so, and I was doing simultaneous interpretation of church meetings at the one year mark.
Go forth and conquer, young man! You’re more than welcome to join the club, and let Uncle True know how he can help you along the way.
February 22, 2008 at 4:17 am
Hello, I’m interested in learning to speak (write?) Mandarin as the basis for a career
I feel I am willing to completely submerse myself in the process, but I simply have no idea where to begin.
Before entering any sort of of abroad study immersion program, I would insist on getting my feet wet with the language to some degree, here in the U.S. (I’d have to prove myself that learning Mandarin is something I’m willing to follow through with before making such a life investment)
How would I go about doing that? My location is Northeast Ohio if that means anything to you. I mean, if there was a full-time mandarin instructing service nearby I’d save up to join. Maybe there is (haha), I wouldn’t know where to find it anyway.
Also, are those computer software “learn it yourself” programs of any worth to someone seeking true fluency? I would figure only as a compliment to formal training. Do Mandarin tutors exist in the U.S., let alone my area?
I figure you can’t just show me where to sign-up, perhaps you know of outlets that I could look into.
P.S. Long term curiosity…how much of a financial undertaking is it to study this language for 6-12 months in Taiwan etc. Are these immersion programs something anyone can just sign up for or would their be prerequisite factors?
Thank you very much for your time,
Randy
February 22, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hi Randy,
Did you read the two pieces I have posted on this site about learning Mandarin? http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/learning-chinese-how-difficult-is-it/ http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/.
You are smart to give learning Mandarin a test run. Many people assume that because they want to learn Mandarin, they’ll have an aptitude for it, only to find out that they aren’t up to the challenge. If I were you, I’d take a beginner course at a local college. Are there community colleges in your area offering classes? If not, you can probably find a class somewhere in the community with a private company, or even online. Once you have a sense of how difficult it is to learn Mandarin, take stock of your response to this fact. If you feel that you enjoy learning it, and you have some aptitude for it, then learning Mandarin is probably a viable career move for you. However, realize that for many learners, Mandarin proves to be too difficult to learn well, and many give up halfway through.
Also, you say you want to base your career on Mandarin skills. That means you are going to spend your career dealing with Chinese people. But how much experience do you have with Chinese cultural environments? My advice is to plan a trip to China or Taiwan, give yourself a few weeks to really explore and get a feel for the environment. you’ll then be able to make an educated decision. A lot of people love Italian culture, but can’t stand to be in France. Others thoroughly enjoy Japan, but hate Korea. You see my point. Make sure you actually like these people and their culture before you devote your life to operating in that environment. Some folks just don’t find a good fit with Chinese culture. It is a completely different world from what you’re used to, but you won’t really understand that until you live in that world.
There are Mandarin tutors in most places. Google is your friend. Also, you might try registering an account on http://www.forumosa.com and posting the same questions in the Learning Chinese forum. There are a number of experts who will happy to provide you with their insights on your questions. My own opinions on the best way to learn Mandarin are written clearly in the posts I gave you links to. In short, I’m not a big fan of long-term coursework, unless you want to become a literature or translation expert. If you have to rely on teachers to motivate you after you’ve studied for six months or a year, you’re sunk anyway.
If I can help you further, feel free to e-mail me at truettblack at yahoo dot com.
December 27, 2008 at 4:55 am
Hi, can you recommend schools for learning Mandarin? Preferably in Taipei or surrounding areas…
December 27, 2008 at 11:23 pm
No, I really can’t, as I have never taken a Mandarin class in Taiwan. However, there are several opinions on this topic in the Learning Chinese forum at Forumosa.
May 4, 2009 at 7:12 am
Hi,
I stumbled across your blog and really like what you have to say. I have been studying Mandarin for about 20 mos now. I made the decision in the beginning to just concentrate on “spoken Mandarin” and not try to learn how to write at the same time…I felt that trying to do BOTH..starting from ZERO…would be too difficult…
I started out with Pimsleur levels 1-3 – all 90 lessons – and reviewed them 3 times…
next found Foreign Service
Institute (American) Mandarin and havedone/reviewed that course (a ton of material) at least 3-4 times…I
am all over Chinesepod every day.. and I have a teacher that I go to once a week for an hour and a half…with all that – and not missing 1 day since I started…studying anywhere from 1-3 hrs daily…
I have come a looooong way….but I am still FAR from fluent…I forget alot and must constantly “duo lianxi” (practice more)…but it has been a great learning experience…it DOES teach humility…but as you learn more your confidence grows…Chinese people LOVE when you engage them in their language and tell them how must respect you have FOR THEM because they learned English…and the average American is usually stunned and impressed that you can even speak a word of Chinese…let alone have a conversation.
For what it is worth – I am 44..started when I was 42 and it is my 1st foreign language.
“Zai jian” and zhu ni hao yunqi
FC
May 5, 2009 at 1:14 am
Thanks for your kind words and for sharing your experience, Frank. Do you live among Chinese speaking people or not? If you don’t, you probably won’t turn the corner to fluency until you can put yourself in an environment where your only option, if you want to communicate on a deeper level, is to speak Mandarin.
Once you’re conversationally fluent, try working through the elementary textbooks, grades 1 through 6, that students in Taiwan or China go through. Then, take on some translation jobs, possibly as a volunteer at first. You’ll soon be able to read Chinese well enough to get through a newspaper.
Best of luck to you.