3 ms·

I’m about a year in studying Mandarin and feel the same way. All the “exotic” features people say make it hard to learn, like tones and writing characters, aren

I’m about a year in studying Mandarin and feel the same way. All the “exotic” features people say make it hard to learn, like tones and writing characters, aren’t that hard to remember and use. English let’s us have a lot of flexibility when it comes to putting prepositions like “last week” before or after the main clause in a sentence. Maybe Mandarin too has this flexibility and I just haven’t gotten that far in my studies, but it sure feels like I can’t make up what I’m saying as I say it. Aside from that, I’d say some features of the language are quite nice, and feel like they were created with human experience in mind more than rules of logic. For example, it relies on specialized complements, like 過 guò (past experience), or 完 wán (finished something), to modify the action of a clause. Unlike English which uses the same past-tense grammar to describe that I ate something in the past and a tree fell in the woods. There are even complements to express the result perceiving with ones senses “I looked and saw”, and the result of cognition “I looked and understood.”

RandomWorker 5y ago
ahh! Very cool, thank you. These features at this point seem like something that can be locked into the look up table. Though, the exceptions rule book is getting pretty big. :P I guess that's where it gets complicated. The features approach kind of compliments my programming part of my brain. Which is also juggling between various features of programming languages and packages within those languages. It definitely takes time to lock in the vocab (I spend on average, measured on a weekly basis, between 30 min-1h30min a day learning Chinese). I'm just 7 months in my Chinese learning experience. In general, I continuously discover more and more depth. What's the amount of time you go back and redo some the earlier stuff you learn?
- eloisius 5y ago
  Sounds like you’ve got the commitment to learn it. Are you self-studying, in class, studying in your home country or in a Chinese-speaking country? I spend 3 hours per day in class, 5 days a week. We learn about 10 new words and about 2-3 new grammatical structures per day. Outside of class it takes me about 5 hours per day to complete homework assignments and memorize vocab (including writing traditional characters). It’s very brisk and I am barely able to keep up. Every day I feel like I am in a pressure cooker. Since my homework includes a lot of writing, I tend to peek back at previous chapters and continue to fold old grammar and vocab into my writing. Since I live in Taiwan I have plenty of opportunities to practice. I make it a point to try to put new grammar and words to use immediately while texting or talking with friends. Anytime I’m riding the metro or standing in line or something, I am always practicing flash cards in Pleco. I feel like occasional review wouldn’t be enough for me, I actually have to put it to use to absorb it. Since I feel like my head is constantly just beneath the water in a perpetual state of drowning, I don’t know if I’m in a position to offer advice, but if I’m offering advice I’d say forget the lookup table. Exceptions abound, and when you start getting into complements and directional phrases and stuff it’s just too much. It’s like trying to memorize the rules for the order of adjectives in English. It’s easier to just practice usage and know when it sounds “off.” Try to find people to practice talking with.
  - RandomWorker 5y ago
    I'm committed because I'm part of a Chinese family and don't speak it myself. This sounds like a quite a lot of pressure, but that time invested will pay off in the long run, you will quickly master the words and sentences. Learning is a decade long process for me. I've set specific goals for my learning. Initially, I want to tell what I(or we) did during the day, what I saw and if it was good or not. That's my 1 year plan. My 2-5 year plan is being able to have casual conversations and talk about fun/enjoyable things. Then after 5 years I'd like to be able to express what is important to me in raising a child and why certain actions/inaction is important is instilling certain values I hold dear. After 10 years, I'd like to find the art in the language and understand deeper meanings. I think my goals are achievable, and the timeframe is as well. Chinese is not something I will earn my living with so its fun. I do take classes but only once a week, for about 30 weeks a year. Thanks for your advise. I think practice is the most important part. I speak with my family once a week and my SO daily. I'm lucky to have conversational native speaking partner that also speaks English (both our second language).

RandomWorker 5y ago

ahh! Very cool, thank you. These features at this point seem like something that can be locked into the look up table. Though, the exceptions rule book is getting pretty big. :P I guess that's where it gets complicated. The features approach kind of compliments my programming part of my brain. Which is also juggling between various features of programming languages and packages within those languages. It definitely takes time to lock in the vocab (I spend on average, measured on a weekly basis, between 30 min-1h30min a day learning Chinese). I'm just 7 months in my Chinese learning experience. In general, I continuously discover more and more depth. What's the amount of time you go back and redo some the earlier stuff you learn?

eloisius 5y ago
Sounds like you’ve got the commitment to learn it. Are you self-studying, in class, studying in your home country or in a Chinese-speaking country? I spend 3 hours per day in class, 5 days a week. We learn about 10 new words and about 2-3 new grammatical structures per day. Outside of class it takes me about 5 hours per day to complete homework assignments and memorize vocab (including writing traditional characters). It’s very brisk and I am barely able to keep up. Every day I feel like I am in a pressure cooker. Since my homework includes a lot of writing, I tend to peek back at previous chapters and continue to fold old grammar and vocab into my writing. Since I live in Taiwan I have plenty of opportunities to practice. I make it a point to try to put new grammar and words to use immediately while texting or talking with friends. Anytime I’m riding the metro or standing in line or something, I am always practicing flash cards in Pleco. I feel like occasional review wouldn’t be enough for me, I actually have to put it to use to absorb it. Since I feel like my head is constantly just beneath the water in a perpetual state of drowning, I don’t know if I’m in a position to offer advice, but if I’m offering advice I’d say forget the lookup table. Exceptions abound, and when you start getting into complements and directional phrases and stuff it’s just too much. It’s like trying to memorize the rules for the order of adjectives in English. It’s easier to just practice usage and know when it sounds “off.” Try to find people to practice talking with.
- RandomWorker 5y ago
  I'm committed because I'm part of a Chinese family and don't speak it myself. This sounds like a quite a lot of pressure, but that time invested will pay off in the long run, you will quickly master the words and sentences. Learning is a decade long process for me. I've set specific goals for my learning. Initially, I want to tell what I(or we) did during the day, what I saw and if it was good or not. That's my 1 year plan. My 2-5 year plan is being able to have casual conversations and talk about fun/enjoyable things. Then after 5 years I'd like to be able to express what is important to me in raising a child and why certain actions/inaction is important is instilling certain values I hold dear. After 10 years, I'd like to find the art in the language and understand deeper meanings. I think my goals are achievable, and the timeframe is as well. Chinese is not something I will earn my living with so its fun. I do take classes but only once a week, for about 30 weeks a year. Thanks for your advise. I think practice is the most important part. I speak with my family once a week and my SO daily. I'm lucky to have conversational native speaking partner that also speaks English (both our second language).