whats the best way to start learning chinese?

[manly]

If you aren't learning it from your girlfriend, you probably won't learn it.

Otherwise, you can try Pimsleur (tapes). They're supposedly the best of the bunch.

 

[LordMorpheus]

Originally posted by: MrDingleDangle
i dont have the funds right now to be able to afford a class, which i know i would have to do to learn it, but is there a good starting part, cause i have a lot of free time*












*want to please my g/f**














**want my g/f to stop saying i dont try to understand her culture

I will be starting my fourth year of Chinese classes in a few weeks (foreign language in HS), and I think that I can indeed reccomend my books, if you apply yourself you won't need a teacher (although the help of your GF will be greatly appreciated by you.) Also, you must be willing to make a fool of yourself in front of her or whoever you con into helping you.

I forget which textbooks we used. sorry. Same books are also used by Case Western Reserve University, and a bunch of others (i only know this because I saw them in their bookstore when I went to visit.) (no i'm not going there.).

really, best way is classes. Otherways you will probably get frustrated and quit before too long.

And only take a class taught by a native speaker or someone who has stayed in China or Taiwan for a good deal of time. Otherwise you will have a double accent.

 

[nanyangview]

"Taiwanese isn't the same as Chinese. Did Taiwanese originally came from China? Yes. But so does people in Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. Are people in the U.S. British just because their ancestors came from England? "

we have some brainwashed maniac here throwing tandrums

to whoever that person is? ur grandparents are dogs rite? not from china? or from some undewater creature?

 

[SOSTrooper]

What nationality are you? My mental tells me that if you're asian, it's a bit easier to learn another asian language. If you're white, then it'll be a bit harder for you to learn mandarin. My friend is a Vietnamese with a Chinese mother, so he's a mix. He watches Chinese drama series and hang out w/ Chinese friends (including me) for over 10 years now. Yet he barely learned anything, except for the very basics like bad words and food and simple salutations. The difficulty of learning English is at about the height of the roof, but learning Mandarin or Cantonese, is to the sky. Very hard for you especially in your 20s. Take a college class, it's a good start, but make use of it everyday; like make friends with Mandarin speaking people (perhaps your gf's friends). You'll need at least 3 to 4 years of Mandarin courses in order for you to speak at the lowest fluency level.

 

[LongCoolMother]

Originally posted by: newbiepcuser

You communist....go back to china. Taiwan is sperate and independent whether you like it or not.

They are not offically recongized as seperate as a nation state by the major nations i.e USA, and other nations in the UN in fear of China. United States current policy on Taiwan
Read here-->One China policy.

The last time I belive Taiwan's govt declared their independence, China's mobolized their miltary stragetically for attack in year 200.

This was quite evident during the SARS epidemic when China did not allow Taiwan to join/patricpate in WHO (World Health Organization). The United States did not step in and intervene on this matter.



OH for the Romeo, there is book out there called I believe called "Making out in Chinese". Its under 10.00 book. It has lot of phrases from "Are you on your peiord" to "Would you like to see a movie"

my family is welcomed no where. my grandparents fled the mainland to taiwan when the communists took over. their family was seperated, and my dad saw his uncle for the first time in 50 years, because taiwan and china were cut off (communications, letters etc.) they even had trouble finding out where he lived.

over in taiwan, the taiwanese hate my parents, because they dont speak taiwanese and such (grew up in taipei). over in china, they hate them too, because they view them as "taiwanese", they can totally tell from the less accurate mandarin.

they grew up in taiwan, they support the KMD party since my parents and grandparents served that guy, chiang kaishek or whatever. therefore they support the reunification of china+taiwan. but they dont support communists (even though the mainland is almost completely capitalist now). so what do we do? either way, we're fvcked.

 

[MrDingleDangle]

Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
What nationality are you? My mental tells me that if you're asian, it's a bit easier to learn another asian language. If you're white, then it'll be a bit harder for you to learn mandarin. My friend is a Vietnamese with a Chinese mother, so he's a mix. He watches Chinese drama series and hang out w/ Chinese friends (including me) for over 10 years now. Yet he barely learned anything, except for the very basics like bad words and food and simple salutations. The difficulty of learning English is at about the height of the roof, but learning Mandarin or Cantonese, is to the sky. Very hard for you especially in your 20s. Take a college class, it's a good start, but make use of it everyday; like make friends with Mandarin speaking people (perhaps your gf's friends). You'll need at least 3 to 4 years of Mandarin courses in other for you to speak at the lowest fluency level.

yeah...im white...i keep telling her its impossible considering i took spanish for 5 years and could barely speak that...

but my ex-g/f said i was probably just born on the wrong side of the world since i have dated more asian girls then white girls and even at 24 my english isnt exactly strong (DAMN NY public schools! )

 

[nanyangview]

yes agreed, learning mandarin from scratch is almost like learning how to walk and run.

learning from friends will not work, you must get profesional help. Even native mandarin people who learned that lang all their life still could not master it.

AND NO, WATCHING MANDARIN movie WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES do nOT WORK either, mandarin and english have COMPLETE different sentence structure...


hehe english for chinese pple are piece of cake.

 

[LongCoolMother]

Originally posted by: nanyangview
"Taiwanese isn't the same as Chinese. Did Taiwanese originally came from China? Yes. But so does people in Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. Are people in the U.S. British just because their ancestors came from England? "

we have some brainwashed maniac here throwing tandrums

to whoever that person is? ur grandparents are dogs rite? not from china? or from some undewater creature?

LOL wtf?!


edit: LMFAO! THATS ORIGINAL!

 

[MrDingleDangle]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother

Originally posted by: nanyangview
"Taiwanese isn't the same as Chinese. Did Taiwanese originally came from China? Yes. But so does people in Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. Are people in the U.S. British just because their ancestors came from England? "

we have some brainwashed maniac here throwing tandrums

to whoever that person is? ur grandparents are dogs rite? not from china? or from some undewater creature?

LOL wtf?!

yeah i was kinda wondering abotu that too

 

[MrDingleDangle]

Originally posted by: nanyangview

hehe english for chinese pple are piece of cake.

do u mean "english for chinese people is a piece of cake" ???

 

[nanyangview]

" Taiwanese isn't the same as Chinese. Did Taiwanese originally came from China? "

he is trying to say that tw pple stayed in taiwan Loooooong enough to be evolutionized into a distince race from chinese. Which is bullshit. Nationalist party got their ass kicked so they fled to that island which belongs to china and thus decided not to call themself chinese


so people in singapore should call themself singaprenese? NO, we still call ourself chinese but our nationality is Singaporean.

W/E F..i am not going into politics, cos argueing with a TW about this is like talking to wood. Whilst the whole world agrees that taiwan is not independent but a PROVINCE of china.

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: nanyangview

hehe english for chinese pple are piece of cake.

...must be a nasty piece of cake

 

[SOSTrooper]

I can't imagine myself knowing only one language It's weird how the mind can process both languages (Cantonese and English) at the same time. All I have to decide is which one to use when I speak. I love mix matching them too. It's funny because sometimes you can get a more meaningful sentence across if you mix the languages. Ahh the temptations

 

[Ranger X]

I hate to be skeptical but at this age, you're never going to learn Mandarin by yourself. You have to take a class (for the discipline) and you have to have the drive to learn it. The ONLY way to be fluent is to live in the country for a year or more and actively getting involved.

Just learn a few phrases and keep it at that.

 

[Sid59]

lol .. great thread.

since we are playing nicely here's what i have to say ...

" he is trying to say that tw pple stayed in taiwan Loooooong enough to be evolutionized into a distince race from chinese.
- if you wanna get down to the nitty gritty, Race only includes the whole human species. There isn't enough genetic differences to differentiate the cultures.
- nationality DOES NOT always = ethnicity.
== if you are an american born chinese person, you're nationality (where you show love/dislove of your nation == America)

- mainland china is just pissed off that a whole bunch of ancient artifacts are still being kept in Taiwain. Both believe they are sole owners of the artifacts. Both sides can argue an equally great story.

- some sentences in Mandarin and English are similar but not all totally different.
" You are very pretty " - Noun verb adjective
Ni shi hen piaoliang. - Noun verb adjective ..
the most basic sentenses are similar. but the more complex ones are different.

 

[AzNmAnJLH]

say i want your "CHOW GI BAI" since she's taiwanese and all..... don't blame me with you get slapped lol

 

[AzNmAnJLH]

Da Fai Chi Lai Le = Big airplane is coming

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: AzNmAnJLH
say i want your "CHOW GI BAI" since she's taiwanese and all..... don't blame me with you get slapped lol

It's either you're Msian, Singaporean or from Taiwan. Or you have some pretty nice friends?

 

[dighn]

chinese (in general, neglecting different dialects) has pretty simple grammar compared to english eg. no tenses, no singular/plular forms etc. but pronounciation would be very hard for non-speakers, especially the 4 tones in mandarin.

there's really not much difference between taiwanese mandarin and mainland mandarine though

 

[ElFenix]

1. hitchhike to beijing
2. live there for a few months
you'll probably learn chinese that way. of course, they're teaching kids how to speak english over there in the schools so you might not

 

[boi]

My mom yells at me in mandarin. Annoying as fvck:|

 

[AzNmAnJLH]

gan ni niang........... also... best phrase to use


pillage: actually i'm non of the above.... if you know what it means then you know which dialect and taiwanese should know what it means also.

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: AzNmAnJLH
gan ni niang........... also... best phrase to use


pillage: actually i'm non of the above.... if you know what it means then you know which dialect and taiwanese should know what it means also.

I definitely know what it is.

 

[Lovepig]

The Presidio in Monterey, CA (language school for the US military) has rated only 3 lanbguages as level 5 - the most difficult to master. English, Cantonese, and Arabic. Mandarin is only level 4.

Alot of it depends on natural language aptitude, which it sounds like your lacking since you took 4 years of Spanish and basically forgot it. Not a good sign. What you lack in aptitude you will need to compensate for with effort. It will be hard work to learn this language, especially just to please a g/f.

All-you-can-eat at Taco Bell says you break-up before you learn it!

 

[Mo0o]

well i have an american friend whose also starting up chinese. he has this book that lists about 2000 characters from most important common to most obscure. since u can't afford classes, i suggest u get a book like that and start memorizing and have your girlfriend help you pronounce some of the stuff. does she speak fluent mandarin/cantonese instead of some obscure dialect? cuz if you're getting the wrong pronunciations , its basically useless to most chinese people, especially w/ your american accent.