i can speak cantonese(ok) but not amazing dunno how to read or write was wondering where to learn mandarin or how is it hard to learn straight from spoken cantonese to mandarin(+read/write) n how long? n anyone else like me=P or jus to learn how to read and speak mandarin, how long? =)
lol short answer: a damn long time (hint: u'll probably be married by that time) u can go to chinese schools and stuff and learn it with the lil kids and stuff... but its really hard. writing is the hard part. reading u kinda get the gist of it after u see a lot of chinese stuff. like at karaoke i can read... but some words i cant write
i was nvr interested in chinese b4, but i can speak....but recently i just disliked americans, and my chinese read and write improved a lot.... usually those who know it, were brought up by parents....so i'ts not really all natural if that sounds right
i started learning chinese when i was 6 and im 17 now, do the maths urself~~ learning chinese is not an easy thing, u gotta learn it as a kid that way it would be easy becuz i personally find chiense really easy since i started this cirriculum when i was young. whether chinese is easy or not is not the main issue, there are also other factors which i rekon would give up on chinese. typical problems might be going to a class where kids are 7-10 years old since u cannot write or read at all, and u might find it boring and those kids immature, etc , i see these problems all the time btw, this year is my last year of chinese school (total of 12 years of schooling) and we hav only 4 people left in the class used to be 60+
i'm Cantonese. i can speak it fluently, too bad i can't write and read. I'm not chinese educated. I'm English Educated............. I think have to learn chinese.......... at least learn to understand the mandarin language.
dont waste your time/money going to chinese school. lol i was in there for 10 years and i didnt learn crap
I grew up speaking Canto, but I was never taught how to read or write. I did pick up on a few of the easier characters though. Anyways, I started taking Mandarin classes when I started college. I can say that having a Canto background, you'll have an easier time learning Mandarin. It's been 3 years since I started and I'm probably one of the better speakers/understanders out of all the people who have stuck with the classes. Especially considering I have not taken part in any study abroad programs to further my learning like a lot of the gwei-los in my classes have. I've been told I have a Canto accent though, but I'm strangely proud of that. I think the problem with Chinese school is that a lot of the kids are forced to go by their parents and therefore have no real interest. I had a friend who was forced to go and he hated it. Later, when they do decide to learn the language on their own, they are much more dedicated to learning.
maybe if you really want to learn chinese...do a study abroad program. If you are constantly force to speak and pratice it. I am sure you can learn it easily
my mom is making me take chinese school until gr12...lol...long time...ive been taking chinese ever since i was like.....kindergarten???.....um...long time...and yet i can only write and read some characters...sighh...so bad at this...lol
probably took me about 12 years of my life learning how to read/write/listen/speak the entire cantonese/mandarin language. It takes time...as it is with all other languages
It'd take you a veeery long time to learn how to write, read, and speak Mandarin if you only know how to speak Cantonese. If you knew how to read as well, then it wouldn't be hard, since the only difference is Simplified and Traditional. *shrug*
I was in this same situation when I went to take a semester of Mandarin in college. I knew how to speak Cantonese, yet I didn't know how to read or write Chinese. And you know how Cantonese has a lot of informalities and colloquial terms that are only used within that spoken dialect...Well, when you want to learn to speak as well as read and write Mandarin, it's going to be difficult - yes, I agree. Not only would you have to memorize how to recognize AND write the characters with all their individual strokes, but you would also have to acquire the right structure/format of writing sentences in the formal, written method. (Speaking Mandarin would be the same since what you speak is what you would write.) For example: English: What's your name? Cantonese: 你叫咩名呀? (Nei giu meh mang ar?) Mandarin/Formally written Chinese: 你叫什麼名字? (Ni jiao shenme mingzi?) I'd say the people in HK would have an easier time since they've learned when they were young how to speak, read, and write Chinese (Cantonese), so when they learn Mandarin, they would just have to speak it as if they were writing Chinese in the formal method, and they would just have to familiarize themselves with the different tones and pronunciations...that's it.
yup im in the same situation as you.......i can speak it okies...but cant read or write it >.< i can read simple things like numbers / big / small / heart etc etc.....like really simple words which i learnt my self thru watching TVB programmes kekeke.....
I went to chinese school for quite a few years and as soon as i left i forgot most of it, which i totally regret. lucky for me i still retained some of the knowledge and so im starting to relearn chinese through song lyrics and tvb subtitles I was too young to understand why i was even at chinese school, but if i could go back in time, i would have put all my effort into it If you really serious about learning chinese, then chinese school will not be a waste of time. its all about how much commitment you got
mando is pretty easy to learn if you have a solid cantonese backgrounnd. As for writing, I dunno how to write too, =P
You can never put any sort of time period as to how long it will take to learn a language, especially Chinese. Just like a few posters here, I went to Chinese school for about 4 years when I was young but didn't really understand why I had to do it. I was there learning it in Mandarin as well (I speak Cantonese, also not fantastic at it). With that I still remember quite a bit of what I did learn but I think it will be easier so long as you have commitment and actually want to learn it. I've been trying to pick it back up since I now have a firm interest in it and I think I'm learning quicker because of it. Also, if you know Cantonese, at least you would be able to translate and understand some Chinese idioms and concepts that crop up that would be difficult to translate into English without losing its meaning. Just some perspective there. I guess you could say it would be easier for you since you have some sort of Chinese grapsing. Oh and for a bit of taster, try this site out: http://chinesepod.com/ I saw the site mentioned on another thread on here and I've since been trying it out and it pretty cool to start with. Give it a go.
try finding urself a chinese school or something there is always classes for chinese if not go get urself one of those baby books and learn slowly u gotta invest alot of time tho
I also find it really tough to pick up the language, writing wise...though recently, i've been trying to write what i see when i'm watching tvb series. Not an entire episode, just phrases or words that interest me..and just start up a scrapbook. I have to admit, you tend to lose it pretty much as soon as you stop. It's a vicious cycle, but think, success is not impossible.
