Two articles about some positive things happening on the Learning Chinese front:
Indiana University gets a $1million grant for Chinese language programs
A Taiwanese-American sets up a private Chinese school for children in Alabama
Two articles about some positive things happening on the Learning Chinese front:
Indiana University gets a $1million grant for Chinese language programs
A Taiwanese-American sets up a private Chinese school for children in Alabama
Filed under The Learning Chinese Craze
A lot of people ask me how long it takes to learn to speak and read fluent Mandarin.
To answer this question, let’s first define fluency in Chinese:
Narrating my own experience with learning Mandarin might be useful to people who want to know what it takes to become fluent in Mandarin.
How Long it Took Me to Become Fluent
In summary, it took me one and a half years to develop true fluency in spoken Mandarin, and about three years to develop fluency in reading.
I learned Mandarin in three phases.
Phase One: The Beginning (2.5 Years)
I did very little work with writing, choosing instead to type my correspondence in Chinese using a key-in system based on bopomofo.
Phase Two: University and Graduate School (Four Years)
When I finished graduate school, I could read most anything in Chinese without consulting a dictionary, could hold a conversation at a level similar to that of a native speaker, and could interpret and translate for business, education, and other markets.
Phase Three: Business and Teaching/Training (15 Years and Counting…)
Since finishing graduate school, I have continued to learn Mandarin and to use my Mandarin skills in a variety of business and educational contexts. I have worked extensively in China and Taiwan in business, conducting my business exclusively in written and spoken Mandarin. I have delivered thousands of speeches, lectures, training courses, and seminars in Mandarin with slides and handouts written in Mandarin. I have taken on a variety of translation and interpreting jobs in business and education. I have written articles and translated my own books into Chinese (with the help of a native-speaking editor, of course).
In my personal life, I use Mandarin to communicate with my wife, some of my children, and with extended family and many friends.
At this point, my Mandarin is as good as that of many native speakers. I’m not perfect–I still mispronounce words (e.g. distributor, jing1xiao1shang1) from time to time, and occasionally have to search for the right word or use circumlocution to describe an object I can’t recall the Mandarin word for. Overall, though, I’m a fully functioning member of a Chinese-speaking society.
I’ll never stop learning–the vocabulary notebook is still in my briefcase, and I still read to learn new words and phrases and to refresh what I’ve already learned. Learning and using Mandarin has been an endless source of challenge, excitement, and stimulation for me. Sure, I was frustrated for the first year or so, but once I achieved my breakthroughs, it was all fun from there.
Eight Keys to Learning Mandarin Quickly and Efficiently
There really is no “quick” way to learn Mandarin, but there are things you can do to reduce pain and increase efficiency.
So How Long Does it Really Take?
If you live in greater China and study with the same dedication an elite athlete applies to a fitness regimen, and you have some native talent for speaking and reading Chinese, you’ll be fluent in spoken Chinese in one to two years; it will take at least two to three years to be able to read.
For further reading on methods of learning Chinese, see one of my previous posts, How to Learn Fluent Mandarin Chinese.
Filed under Language, The Learning Chinese Craze
This link is just too good not to pass along: Nintendo DS Review: My Chinese Coach
How the program is set up (from the article):
After an initial assessment, players are placed among the 29 lessons. The game has minimum requirements for lesson advancement, which eventually build to a huge amount – approximately 1000 lessons, 10,000 words and 1500 phrases.
How exactly it works, and more importantly, if it works, I have no idea. I’m not rushing to buy a copy, since everyone in my house is fluent in Chinese.
And then, this juicy morsel:
Asian languages can be challenging to learn.
Understatement of the Year!
If you’ve seen or used this game, leave a comment for us. Cheers.
Filed under The Learning Chinese Craze
It isn’t easy for non-native speakers of Mandarin to pronounce words correctly, though many of them eventually master the basic sounds after studying pinyin and putting in hundreds of hours of speaking practice.
What many “fluent” speakers of Mandarin can’t manage is getting the tones right. There are a suprising number of non-native Mandarin speakers who can read and write in Chinese, and who have a vast vocabulary, but who cannot seem to accurately reproduce the tones of spoken Chinese. It is the Achilles heel of many a Sinologist.
For beginners: There are five tones in Mandarin. The first tone is elongated and somewhat high-pitched. The second tone rises from a lower point to a pitch just under the first tone, and is roughly the same length as the first tone. The third tone dips and then rises to a pitch under the ending pitch of the second tone, and the fourth tone abrupt and spoken at a lower pitch. The fifth tone is the neutral tone and is not used nearly as often as the other tones.
In my view, producing the wrong tones is often worse than simply speaking atonal Mandarin, because the tone determines the meaning of the word.
So what is a student of Chinese who wants to produce accurate tones to do? I have five suggestions for you.
1. Early on in the process of studying Chinese, make a commitment to learning difference between the tones. Then, decide that you’re going to repeat new words 10, 20, or 30 times, until you’re sure you’ve got the tones right. Many people are lackadaisical about tones in the beginning and end up forming bad habits that are hard to break, once your own take on a particular sound in Mandarin is ingrained.
2. Learn to write new words and phrases in a vocabulary notebook using pinyin, and make sure you mark the tones accurately with each new entry. When you review the words you’ve added, focus on the tones.
3. Spend time imitating native Mandarin speakers in real time. Think consciously about the tones associated with each syllable that comes out of your mouth as you do this. You can use real people who are willing to let you mimic them, or you can use recordings. A particular challenge is being able to fire off entire sentences with proper tones from beginning to end. Eventually, you’ll need to work up to this.
4. Ask your Mandarin speaking friends, relatives, and/or instructors to ruthlessly correct your tones when you make a mistake. Be an absolute stickler for correct tones.
5. Record yourself speaking longer sentences in Mandarin. Pick out your problem areas (with the help of a language coach if needed), and work on strengthening your weak areas. For example, many learners of Chinese cannot accurately produce a second tone. It will either sound like a third tone, or it won’t rise to a high enough pitch to be discernible to a native speaker.
There are some learners of Mandarin who are indeed gifted mimics. It will be easier for them to develop accurate tones, if they are diligent. Sadly, some people will never have very accurate tones, no matter what they do. Their brains just aren’t wired that way. Still, there is hope for most anyone who works hard enough at it.
Filed under Language