Learning Chinese
I've been trying to learn Chinese for over half a year now and, well, it's kinda tough going. Not only do you need to learn a whole new way of speaking, but you also need to learn two written languages: pinyin (the English transliteration of Chinese words, so you can actually read anything), and Chinese characters themselves.
The spoken language is difficult in its own right due to tones. These are like the accents found in other languages, but more complicated and unfortunately much more important - getting the wrong tone in a word can change the meaning completely, to the extent that you could call your mother a horse by using the wrong inflection.
This is further complicated by different dialects. The majority of people in China speak Mandarin, while people in the South (and most of the Hong Kong expatriates around the world) speak Cantonese. They both use the same characters, but they are pronounced very differently. Actually, that's not entirely true - Mandarin speakers use 'simplified Chinese characters', while Hong Kong and Taiwan use 'traditional characters'. Sometimes they look similar, sometimes not.
Did I mention the other half-dozen regional variations? It's enough to cause you to weep.
As you can imagine, this makes for a daunting and frustrating experience. My hope is that the learning curve for Chinese is very steep to begin with, but then flattens out - the language itself has very little grammar. Contrast this to French where it's relatively easy to get into, but quickly becomes difficult if you want to master the grammar. That's my theory anyway.
I came across a rather nice site called Authentic Asian. This website attempts to explain the background behind a lot of Asian culture, particularly that of the Chinese. So far it's taken several Chinese characters and split them apart, with information on how the character evolved and how it found its place in history. Fascinating stuff, and it certainly makes it easier to learn a character when it's more than just a collection of random lines.
I also recently finished reading Fortress Besieged, a book claimed to be one of the best examples of modern Chinese literature. It's based in and around the time of the Japanese occupation of China and follows the somewhat comical adventures of a student freshly returned from Europe. It's surprisingly easy to read, and it was very interesting to see that important period of Chinese history when it moved from the traditional to modern. It's also fun to see what the Chinese thought of the west at the time.
In a novel set in middle-class Chinese society on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, Fang Hung Chien obtains a teaching position, using a degree from a fake American university, in a Chinese university - where the pseudo-intellectuals become the butt of the author's satire.
Good stuff.
Comments (page 2 of 2)
Apr 2, 2008 9:44 am
我作弊了叫我朋友先帮我翻译了，谢谢你哦！
Apr 1, 2008 8:03 pm
留个中文的吧，等你的中文学好了，就能看懂了。 : )
谢谢你的Wordpress文章，我学到了很多东西，谢谢。
Dec 12, 2007 8:39 pm
Actually, there's a site called "Chinesepod" is very famous. It's not only a Chinese learning site but also an SNS with many people all over the world who just like you, wants to learn Chinese
A friend in China from Africa recommend it(http://chinesepod.com/) to me, and now I recommend it to you
Dec 12, 2007 1:59 pm
Hey John, great work.
Feb 6, 2007 2:26 am
Take a look at ZhongWen.com . Great online dictionary for learners.
Feb 4, 2007 7:08 am
Hi, I am a Chinese blogger who's new to WP.
But I have been blogged for over 2 years since the summer of 04. I was using an ASP-Access Blog system, and now change to WP.
Nice to find your plugins and really glad to know you are learning Chinese,haha
Nov 21, 2006 10:18 am
Hi John,
I just started messing w/ WP and found your theme dissection piece. Just now stumbled on this "learning Chinese" post. Looks like it has been more than a year now, have you given up yet? LOL. I was born in Hong Kong and studied English Cantonese... and I feel really lucky to have been born into a bi-lingual environment! I suck at writing Chinese now though,
but at least I can still read and speak it relatively well. 
Have you tried using Podcasts to learn Chinese? I'm listening to JapanesePod101.com and it's terrific! I heard http://www.chinesepod.com/ is really good as well! Give it a shot! & Keep at it! 加油！
Oh, and thanks for your Theme Dissection, I hope to use it to create a blog site for Chinese history & culture, and another for Japanese living overseas. Haven't gotten nowhere yet, but hopefully I will soon.
Aug 29, 2006 8:19 am
I've got a excellent site for Chinese learners:
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Lesson/176381.htm
I hope that you all can enjoy learning Chinese, it's a hard language at the beginning, but it's certainly worth leaarning! Good luck, guys!
Aug 21, 2006 2:40 am
ni de tou hao xiao
Aug 20, 2006 9:07 am
how do you say nice butt in chinese
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