I've been learning some Mandarin on my own (via ChinesePod podcasts, mostly), and tried it out on two trips to Beijing. A friend recommended that I try spoken Mandarin, and that I ignore reading and writing almost completely, since that's quite hard.
Truth be told, I've found learning Chinese to be incredibly fun and exciting. My plan is to take some one-on-one Internet-based tutorials starting in the coming months; the fact that I'll be in China on business three times in the coming eight months just boosts my interest. I've been there twice before, and knowing some Mandarin was VERY useful.
I've been amazed by how simple the basic grammar is; on that part, Chinese seems easier than the other languages I've learned. (I'm a native English speaker, and have fluent Hebrew and took Spanish for a number of years in school.)
The tones do seem to be a problem; I understand the ideas behind them, but the sounds do see fairly subtle to me. I'll keep pushing ahead, though, and hope to improve the sounds I make and those I can understand.
For me, this article seemed spot-on in only one area, namely the lack of cognates. In both Hebrew and Spanish, there are enough words that overlap, particularly for modern terms, that you can sorta kinda figure some things out. I've been amazed by how completely, bafflingly, absurdly different everything is in Chinese. Then again, that's part of the fun for me; every word or phrase I learn, I feel I'm cracking a secret code.
I'm also going to agree with those who say that English is not particularly easy, at least when it comes the grammar and pronunciation. Yes, having an alphabet certainly helps, but my children took quite a while to learn all of the complex rules for English reading, and I'm convinced that in some cases, the only solution is to read the whole word, rather than sound it out.
I'd definitely recommend learning Mandarin, both for the fun and the utility. And people in China are completely amazed and impressed that you're trying to learn their language, which is good for scoring some political points, as well!
Truth be told, I've found learning Chinese to be incredibly fun and exciting. My plan is to take some one-on-one Internet-based tutorials starting in the coming months; the fact that I'll be in China on business three times in the coming eight months just boosts my interest. I've been there twice before, and knowing some Mandarin was VERY useful.
I've been amazed by how simple the basic grammar is; on that part, Chinese seems easier than the other languages I've learned. (I'm a native English speaker, and have fluent Hebrew and took Spanish for a number of years in school.)
The tones do seem to be a problem; I understand the ideas behind them, but the sounds do see fairly subtle to me. I'll keep pushing ahead, though, and hope to improve the sounds I make and those I can understand.
For me, this article seemed spot-on in only one area, namely the lack of cognates. In both Hebrew and Spanish, there are enough words that overlap, particularly for modern terms, that you can sorta kinda figure some things out. I've been amazed by how completely, bafflingly, absurdly different everything is in Chinese. Then again, that's part of the fun for me; every word or phrase I learn, I feel I'm cracking a secret code.
I'm also going to agree with those who say that English is not particularly easy, at least when it comes the grammar and pronunciation. Yes, having an alphabet certainly helps, but my children took quite a while to learn all of the complex rules for English reading, and I'm convinced that in some cases, the only solution is to read the whole word, rather than sound it out.
I'd definitely recommend learning Mandarin, both for the fun and the utility. And people in China are completely amazed and impressed that you're trying to learn their language, which is good for scoring some political points, as well!