Mandarin Chinese is a beautiful language. I have deeply enjoyed my own learning journey through it. This article is the first in a series for anyone interested in its study.
In many ways, learning Mandarin is no different than studying French, Spanish or German. You need to learn new sounds, to get a feel for how natives say things. There are words and expressions to be learned. It naturally takes motivation and time. But there also are different things to absorb. If you approach them smartly, they become very enjoyable.
Initial Exploration
I’d like to give you a window onto the world of Mandarin.
When you begin a new language, it is very useful to understand where you will be going, and what you will need to learn. So! What are the important features of Mandarin?
1. New sounds.
All the sounds of mandarin are quite learnable. They all exist in some form in English. You will simply have to learn a few new distinctions. Chinese syllables are also more staccato than those of English. Chop, chop, chop!
2. Tones
Chinese speakers actually “sing” all the words of their language. There are 4 tones or notes in Mandarin. Your first job is to begin to hear them and to start reproducing them. We as Westerners are not used to this. The tones are not difficult to hear or to speak, but they take a while getting accustomed to.
3. Characters
Chinese characters are an incredible writing system, but they require quite a bit of memorization. Take your time learning them, but begin to study them immediately. You will need to know them to be literate. Fortunately, there is a much simpler way to read Chinese initially. It is called …….. Pinyin.
4. Pinyin
Pinyin is a way of writing Chinese that uses our own Roman alphabet. It is very systematic and easy to learn. It allows you to read and write words in Chinese immediately. It also tells you where to pronounce the tones. Pinyin is your best friend.
5. Vocabulary
Yes, you have to learn words. The best way is to hear and see a lot of the language. And actually, the more characters you know, the easier it is to absorb vocabulary. More on that later.
6. Grammar
Chinese grammar is easier to learn than that of a new Western language. It has no verb tenses or conjugations; no singular or plural; and no declensions (like Russian or German). Simply stated, the words do not change in any way. Remember those French irregular verbs? and the German der die das? Throw them out. They are not needed here. Chinese does have some new concepts, but they are easily grasped.
7. Word order
Chinese word order is different from ours. Simply listen and model what you hear. The expression “Long time no see” actually comes from Chinese. Easier to say than “it’s been a long time since I have last seen you”, isn’t it?
These are all the things you need to consider initially: the “What ” of Mandarin. The next part in this series will begin to deal with the “How”.