China is diverse in a multitude of ways, and language is no exception. Although Mandarin is the official language of the People’s Republic of China, it is almost impossible to say exactly how many dialects can be found dispersed throughout the varying provinces. Some of the most prominent dialects are Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Min, Xiang, Hakka, Gan, and Shanghainese.
Language has never been a particularly strong point of mine. Growing up in the culturally diverse Lake City, Florida...yeah right, I had a choice of either taking French or Spanish. I chose French. Why? Simply because most people took Spanish, and I like to go against the grain from time to time. Taking French was never exciting to me, I did what I had to do to pass, and forgot nearly everything as soon as it was finished. I do however remember the catchy song, Alouette! It wasn’t until I began my journey of learning Mandarin Chinese that I was fully able to understand the importance of and appreciate learning a new language. I instantaneously fell in love with this language, and have ever since devoted myself to learning it.
Mandarin is based on a totally different philosophy from English. First, there is no actual alphabet, instead the Chinese read using approximately 3,000-4,000 characters in everyday speech. There is however pinyin, a Romanization system, which was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, and was designed to make it easier for foreigners to learn Chinese. It is based on the phonetical sounds of Chinese, and is written using letters. Second, Mandarin consists of 4 different tones, which can significantly change the meaning of a word. For example “Si” (四) said using the 4th tone means “4”, and “Si” (死) said using the 3rd tone means “death’. Third, like in most languages, Chinese has a unique grammar system, and one that is significantly different than my native tongue, English.
So, am I any good at Mandarin? Well, NO! I really am not. I have been studying it for just under a year now, and I often feel like I am forgetting exponentially faster than I am learning it. My handicap is that there are limited opportunities for me to speak mandarin, and it is definitely a language that needs a significant amount of practice to hone. I will say my reading is significantly better than my speaking, which is actually pretty comical. Most people who hear me speak Chinese comment on how cute my accent is... yeah yeah, I have a slight southern accent, on top of my american accent, so you can only imagine how lovely that must sound when speaking chinese! Honestly, learning mandarin has been a very humbling, and yet wondrous experience, and I plan to continue, as grueling as it may be, until I am completely fluent!
7 comments:
Just subscribed to your blog. Looking forward to reading more about you fascination with China and your experiences of learning Chinese.
I'm very much a much a slow and steady person when it comes to learning Chinese. It's taking a long time, but I will get their eventually.
Thanks for subscribing! I agree with you, I think approaching learning mandarin with a "slow and steady" attitude will get you far, because there is definitely a lot to learn!
Can I ask how you are learning? I presume the slow and steady nature of progress means that the pace and demand for instant results that many classes pander to is not something you can work with.
The bulk of my learning material comes from online courses and websites. I am also lucky enough to be offered a part subsidised course once a week through work. Ideally the class would be longer and maybe twice a week, but the combination of online study and real practice in the class has been a good one.
As always, my enthusiasm for learning Mandarin goes in phases and the progress I make is directly proportional to the effort I put in.
Actually, I took two semesters of Chinese while in college, and now I am just doing independent study and getting help from my boyfriend. I found that although my professor was great, he moved quite a deal to quickly, so I am already forgetting and having to re-learn a large bulk of what I was taught. So now I am trying to work on it at a more reasonable pace, and am focusing on my weakest area, which is speaking!
Cantonese is not a dialect, it's a second language.
I'm a Chinese and although i grew up speaking Chinese, i still have trouble understanding Chinese spoken by people from China, because i'm not from either China or Taiwan, the accent barrier is really bothering me...
Hey there,i just subscribed to your blog and i have to admit,your Mandarin pronouciations aren't too bad :) you'll get there..just don't give up and keep speaking it :)
I should know,i'm Chinese and even i have problems speaking Mandarin.yup,Ebglish is my first language..lol.
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