Comments on: Does Chinese Suck?

By: Learn Chinese Online

Learn Chinese Online — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:35:53 +0000

No learning chinese is very simple and fun..I have learnt from studiochinese.com, one of the leading online chinese language tutors with experienced tutors.I could really learn faster for an affordable price..

Give a try …

By: chitchatchinese

chitchatchinese — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:24:28 +0000

I’ve never heard of FSI, could you send me a link? What other materials have you used? I am interested in students who are learning Chinese outside of China and successfully doing so. Most blogs focus on learning in China. Sounds like you’re doing a good job!

By: Kristene

Kristene — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:03:05 +0000

I don’t think that Chinese sucks… but then again, I live in western Oregon, an area with a LOT of Chinese immigrants, so I have lots of oppertunities to make Chinese friends, practice speaking with them, and get their opinions on things like pronunciation, etc. And I started learning with the FSI “Pronunciation and Romanization” section which definitely helped with tones, etc. (I didn’t do too much else with FSI though, the main lessons use out-dated vocabulary and are veeeeery dry and boring…).

By: Celia Jackson

Celia Jackson — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:00:48 +0000

Personally, Chinese being a mystery was at first a great benefit in a household where my mother ruled over all European languages! When studying Chinese no one in my family questioned whether or not I knew what I was doing which left me the freedom to experiment with something totally new. The simple grammer allowed me to construct whole sentences rather quickly which lent support when I felt frustrated with tones or vocabulary. I look forward to getting tips on taking my Chinese skills to the next level of chit-chat!

By: chitchatchinese

chitchatchinese — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:45:58 +0000

Yea, definitely learn some Chinese before you go (and I recommend Mandarin first, not Cantonese… you can get to that later). Look at my other post for online learning resources. Every little bit counts, and the best part is Chinese people really appreciate it and give such great encouragement.

By: chitchatchinese

chitchatchinese — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:43:03 +0000

Don’t give up. Just approach it in the right way. You should try a good audio-visual program like http://www.activechinese.com, or if you prefer MP3 downloads try http://www.chinesepod.com. The former is best as a textbook, with a logical progression.

By: Mary Jackson

Mary Jackson — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:14:47 +0000

Yes, Chinese does suck! I gave up, I tried it for three months and just could not pick up on the tones!! Maybe some people just can’t “hear” them, ya know? Argh, English only for me!

By: Alden Cooke

Alden Cooke — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:04:41 +0000

I am hoping to teach ESL in Guangzhou in January 2009 for six months or so. Do you think there is any point in trying to learn the language before I go, or is it just too difficult? I was never a language buff…

By: Tracy Jones

Tracy Jones — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:01:00 +0000

I lived in China for a year… and I gave up! The writing was too frustrating, non-alphabetical is just not for me! Nice not to have tenses though, Spanish is past tense and imperfect is tougher than Chinese in that sense.

By: chitchatchinese

chitchatchinese — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:00:02 +0000

Total break! The only formal change, which is not used very often, is changing nǐ (you) to nǐn (you) – kind of like “tu” and “usted” in Spanish: the former being casual and the latter more formal. However, unlike Spanish, the nǐn is not that common outside of business situations. I studied some Japanese, so I know what you mean…