Mandarin II

Let's get back into a happy groove..I know some of you might have been caught off guard by that last entry!

This will be my second entry on Mandarin, and instead of explaining what I learned, I think I'd rather just tell you how I'm feeling about it.

I'm going to sound completely loco at this next statement, but I honestly believe that Mandarin is nowhere near as hard as it is made out to be. I have a good resource to assist me with writing in Pinyin and with the characters, and I even have a friend on LiveMocha who I can ask questions about words that I'm not too sure how to find in my resource.

In all honesty, I think Mandarin Chinese is quite easy. Some of you may be saying, "This MF right here is nuts." And you're probably correct in that assumption, but it's true. I went through my last lesson and it was a breeze. It's weird because I sometimes feel like I don't know anything, but when I really think about the language, and try to express some feelings, or have a light conversation, I find that I know a LOT more than I thought I did. 

Let me explain why it's so easy..Maybe it will help you who are trying to learn it and having difficulty. Mandarin is a tonal language, meaning that one word can possibly have four different tones, and therefore four different meanings. Trying to teach yourself from a book is going to be insanely difficult because the book can't vocally repeat the words to you. I started learning aurally, so naturally, I understand how to say the words, and because I understand it in the hardest aspect of it to grasp, the writing is much less of a chore (despite the number of strokes some characters have).

So, in short, if you're going to learn Mandarin, or any tonal language for that matter, make sure you learn by ear before you try to crack open a book. It will save you a lot of frustration, trust me. I think back and realize that I would be tearing my hair out if I had tried learning from a book first.

I'm still rapidly falling in love with the language, and you never know..This might be my third language I become fluent in!

Zaijian,

Your Favorite Polyglot

Twitter: @mistercapoeira