Quote: (03-11-2015 03:56 PM)micha Wrote:
Quote: (03-11-2015 08:25 AM)Isaac Jordan Wrote:
Just wanted to leave this here for anyone else thinking about learning Chinese. I minored in Mandarin for 3 years in college, spent a summer abroad in Shanghai, and couldn't agree more with everything he writes:
Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard
Having read that it seems almost impossible to believe claims of near fluency in one year.
Or is the "only speaking" and using pinyin aspect of the language really so much easier, so that speaking freely within one year can be achieved?
It's bullshit when someone claims fluency. Never heard of someone speak Chinese fluently within one year of learning.
The vast majority of new learners of Chinese have really fucked up tones and mispronunciation. Most Chinese people they encounter are just too shy to criticize it.
If you want a good example of a white guy speaking Chinese decently go listen to some sinica podcasts. I mentioned this before but one of the co-hosts on there (Jeremy Goldkorn) has excellent Chinese. However, if he was on the phone i'd still know he wasn't a native Chinese speaker but his accent is still 99% better than the typical.