Why is learning Chinese so hard?

Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons. Mandarin Chinese (the most common dialect) has four tones, so one word can be pronounced four different ways, and each pronunciation has a different meaning. For instance, the word ma can mean “mother,” “horse,” “rough” or “scold” — depending on how you say it.

Why do you study Chinese?

Chinese language skills open up just over 1.3 billion people across China! Learning Mandarin gives you access to communicate with many people and connect on a deeper level, not just in Asia but across the world! Studies suggest that learning Chinese uses more parts of the brain than are required for other languages.

Why is the Chinese language so complicated?

The Chinese language is so complex because it has been evolving literally for thousands of years while maintaining its cultural integrity. Even simplified characters are a very recent change in mainland China and have been promoted for use in printing only since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy.

Do you find learning Chinese language is easy?

When it comes to the issue of grammatical complexity, Chinese is really one of the easiest languages there is to learn. Unlike most European languages, it does not feature complicated constructs like cases and genders. It also treats tenses in a very simplistic way.

Why is it so hard to learn Chinese?

Chinese is famous for having tons of homonyms and lack of grammar. This can make it easy to get started… but hard to get good. Especially in spoken conversations where characters aren’t there to clarify things. There are tons of homonyms in Chinese! The word “he” “she” and “it” all have the same pronunciation and same tone “ta” with a first tone.

Why study Chinese in the US?

Many US companies do business in China and have long-term investments there. The study of the Chinese language opens the way to different important fields such as Chinese politics, economy, history or archaeology. But to study Chinese finally means to study a culture, a people.

How do I learn Chinese?

To learn Chinese, you need to learn Chinese words. For each word, you need to memorize 4 different things. The meaning, the pronunciation, the tone, the character. And really, you need to memorize the radicals that make up the character and practice writing this character by repeatedly writing it on blank sheets of paper!

What is it like to study in Shanghai?

Students have the opportunity to spend a summer, semester, or year studying Chinese, taking elective courses in English, and even having an internship in the vibrant city of Shanghai. No prior knowledge of Chinese language is required to study abroad in Shanghai, but students will be required to study Chinese while in the program.