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Does anyone on the forums speak either or plan to learn one or both of these? Seen a few people from Taiwan post on the forums recently. After I’ve finished studying Japanese I may have a crack at both. For now, my focus is solely on Japanese.
My girlfriend and her mom both speak Mandarin and Japanese, it’s so complicated to speak.
Chinese and Korean are two of those languages that I’d really like to know, but can’t bring myself to go through the workload for two languages I’ll likely never get to really use.
They’re both really cool languages, but I can’t see myself having any real use for knowing them, so I really couldn’t justify the large effort they’d take.
@ Yggbert
That’s very interesting. I am envious they can speak both Japanese and Mandarin.@ Gigatron
I see your point. With Chinese you have the decision of choosing which dialect to learn. Mandarin and Cantonese have the most speakers I believe. Then there’s the simplified and traditional characters. I reckon it’s the tones that give people the most difficulty.With Korean, from what I’ve read, Hangul doesn’t seem to be too difficult to learn but it’s the pronounciation which causes the most problems.
I would love to know Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean, but I highly doubt I could learn all three after learning Japanese.
After I’ve got to a good enough level of Japanese, I plan to do chinese.
@ Mark
Nice to hear. Good luck with your Japanese and eventual Chinese studies.
I will stop after Japanese, I think 3 languages are enough :)
@ Mark
Which other languages do you know?
Assuming the question is aimed at me, and not at the other Mark, I know both Danish and English.
Sorry, yes that question was for you Mark Webber. Thanks for replying.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 9 months ago by
No worries, our names get mixed together all the time. That is why I changed my forum name to katakana. :D (I think changing it to only my last name is a bit arrogant, though it would solve some problems)
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This reply was modified 12 years, 9 months ago by
マーク・ウェーバー.
@kanjiman8:
Chinese speaker here! I can tell you from experience that Chinese definitely helps with Japanese, especially with kanji. Not sure if it’s true with the other way round though, but at least you won’t have to work as much with the meanings of the Chinese characters. No experience here with Hangul or Korean.
And one more thing, I would advise you to learn Mandarin first since it’s the one dialect that most Chinese-speakers would understand. As for the other dialects, it’s going to be a pain since most of them don’t have a widespread or well-developed writing system (I think) and thus lack references and materials as compared to Mandarin.
Best way to learn them, I think, is through osmosis (living with people who speak them daily) or immersion (plenty of TV dramas, I heard). And yup, tone is definitely a hard thing to master in Chinese.
And don’t limit yourself so fast, you’ll never know till you try learning Chinese, right? Anyway, if there’s anything else you need answering, give a shout! I’ll try my best to answer. =)
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This reply was modified 12 years, 9 months ago by
Yippy.
@ Mark Webber
Yeah, that was a good idea to change your name into katakana. It does cut out some confusion. I think it’s fine to use your surname too.
@ Yippy
What country are you from? Are you a native Chinese speaker or have you learned it as a second language? Sorry for all the questions hehe. I like finding out about peoples language abilities :) . I have a friend who knows Malay, Thai, Mandarin, Cantonese, English and is learning Japanese. He’s pretty fluent in the first five I mentioned. Like you, he finds Kanji very easy due to knowing Chinese but finds Japanese grammar quite hard. He’s still learning Japanese as far as I know.
I agree that Mandarin does seem to be the most popular dialect to learn for non Chinese people and Chinese people who’s first language is another dialect and want to learn Mandarin as a second language.
Mandarin is the most spoken dialect in the mainland, and is it true it’s becoming more popular with overseas Chinese communities in countries such as USA and Australia?
I definitely do want to learn Mandarin someday. Aside from personal reasons, It will be useful for business and career opportunities.
I sometimes go on http://www.chinese-forums.com/ and read the forums there. It’s a useful site and I’d recommened it to anyone who wants to learn Chinese.
@Kanjiman8: No problem, ask all you want, I’d be glad to answer them!
Anyway, I’m from Malaysia, there’s a sizable Chinese community here. I’d consider myself a native speaker, but only because I’ve been learning it since a very young age. In reality, my actual skills are below par for most Chinese speakers around here. I can get by in daily conversations with what little I have though.
Agreed, being fluent in Chinese only wins you about 20% of the battle in Japanese. The grammar part is hard, but once you practice more, you’ll start to notice patterns.
Here in Malaysia, it’s rare to find a Chinese-speaker who doesn’t speak Mandarin, but there are the occasional old-timers who did not get a chance to learn it in school.
I can’t speak for the communities in the US and Australia, but I can say that we here are quite vocal and passionate about Chinese language education. I assumed that overseas Chinese communities would have had a strong interest already, given their background and culture… Was I wrong?
Yup, China’s a huge market just waiting to be tapped into.
@ Yippy
Thanks. If I have anymore questions, I’ll be sure to ask. As for the overseas Chinese communities in countries like the USA and Australia, from sites I’ve read, it seems they speak Cantonese as their main/first dialact due to originating from places like Canton Province/Guangdong Province in China. Cantonese is also one of the main languages in Hong Kong along with English. Recently I read that there’s been a rise in Mandarin speakers in the overseas communities who come from Mandarin speaking areas in the mainland. I wonder if eventually there will be more Mandarin speakers than Cantonese ones in the overseas communities?
I really would love to know both Mandarin and Cantonese once I feel I have learned enough Japanese. The satisfaction you get from knowing another language is truely a unique feeling.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 9 months ago by
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