Can you speak Mandarin Chinese?

[happybratpack]

If so and you learned it later in life, can you share HOW?! I've bought the books, I've got the CD's, I've even been sticking the little signs on everything so I practice the words when I use that item...but nothing is sticking. I'm going to be there for 12 days alone, I'll have someone with me for the government stuff but other than that I'll be making do on my own. I'd like to have at least some grasp of the language. I've studied French and Spanish and have been pretty quick about picking it up, but I've got a major brain block with this.

I was thinking about trying to find a tutor, I'm at a loss how else to learn it.

 

[Gaspode]

Hi there,

Well the answer is no I'm afraid **but** I have learned some Cantonese and quite a bit of Japanese (I also recently had a taster 45 minute session in Mandarin which I really enjoyed).

What I will say is this, you will not need to know *all* the signs. Mandarin words can be written using the roman alphabet/"english" letters so you may find books/phrase books that have this way of teaching. It is I believe called Pinyin? In Japanese this is all we learned, not the symbols, it was called Romaji and my Japanese penpal can understand it written down too

Also, I was once given some books to help with learning the Japanese symbols (a lot of which are borrowed from the Chinese alphabets). They helped you learn by memorising ideas about what the symbol looked like (hard to explain) and were really really useful. You might like to look for those books but for Mandarin (I'm sure they exist). I believe Mandarin is built up from the Kanji alphabet (Your books should tell you) and possibly one or two others so look for a book that says it will teach you those alphabets in the way I described above perhaps? (Hope that helps!!)

Finally I'll pass on a tip our Mandarin teacher gave us in the taster session. She said there are over 55,000 symbols I believe but she also said you don't need to learn them all. Lots of symbols are combinations of others. For example when you see a little square box type character this means 'mouth' and will probably be in all the symbols for eating, talking, laughing etc. So learn the most basic of symbols and then you should be able to figure out what others mean by seeing what 'building blocks' they are made of.

If I can help in any other way please let me know. I have a friend in Hong Kong but she speaks Cantonese. However, I'm sure she has known many people who have tried to learn the language and so may have other tips.

Best Wishes, I think you are to be admired for trying to learn it for the sake of your trip and your daughter
Gaspodé

 

[grlpwrd]

Realistically, I think because you may be limited in terms of time and you'll be communicating with people one-on-one I think you should concentrate on speaking the language rather than its written form.

Hiring a tutor is a great idea. You could also get a language program that emphasizes the spoken language with common phrases and vocabulary. You could also find some webcasts so you can try to pick things up listening to people speak it as Mandarin is a tonal language.

I speak some Japanese and am learning Cantonese and Mandarin. Chinese is much more difficult because it is a tonal language. I bought a whole set of tapes from someone in Hong Kong a few years ago and it's helped some, but I still have difficulty because I'm not used to the different tones. The basics, like how are you? and where is...? come in handy and maybe some colloquial expressions.

You might also want to brush up on Chinese customs and etiquette, such as using a chopstick to eat, don't face a tea spout to anyone because it is considered impolite to set the teapot down where the spout is facing towards someone, and there are meeting customs and traditions. One important one: Do not give lavish gifts because it may be seen as a bribe and especially don't give a clock as a gift because “give you a clock” sounds similar to "attending your funeral." I looked that one up just to be sure.

I admire you, too, for learning the language and really being proactive. I am part Chinese and only now am I learning the language. My martial arts teacher speaks Mandarin and Cantonese so I am hoping to improve by speaking with him. Maybe you can find a Chinese society or group to help you out.

GL!