i want to learn chinsese mandarine but i don't know how to start ! . in chinese they have more than 40 000 character , not like in the most common languages in which there are about 30 or less . in Arabic we have 28 letters , in English and French 26 . in these languages you know where to start , but i don't know about chinese , if anyone is learning chinese please tell me how did you started learning chinese , thank you =D .
Haha, I think most languages are like that. Chinese is odd in that it has very little grammar. But even Chinese changes word types by suffixes and prefixes. 地__ makes an adjective into an adverb, 有__ makes a noun into an adjective, __花 changes a verb into a noun, etc.. In terms of past/present/future tense, Chinese tends to be more ambiguous. Other languages force you to be specific, which makes it easier for the listener to understand. I used to hate how much grammar German had, but looking back it makes it a lot easier for the listener to understand, if they miss words.
In chinese we have two systems. One is Pinyin,anohter is character.I suggest that you learn it from the both.I think nowaday you can find lots of resources on internet.It's including different level of chinese.
If you can browse Youtube. I think you will find some useful resourses which is made for beginner.chinese isn't diffcult than you think. As you know the english. it also have the sepcific alphabet,this is the most important thing to hlep you quickly entry the chinese world for listening and spoken.in addtion,the phonic way maybe is a good way to help you associate character with Pin yin.
Remeber that don't separately learn it in two systems. If you want to improve your reading and writing skill.you would be better spend the same time learn character as Pin yin at the beggining time. otherwise.you will spend more time to memerize any character within Pin yin. It would be adding your studying level .
You can start using the ChineseSkill app to get started. It's great for beginners. Also I good place to start is learning the most commonly used chinese characters. Don't feel you have to learn all of them, it's impossible. If you recognize just 3000 you can read most of a newspaper. Also, focus on the language you feel you will use the most, for example you want to learn for business? or just to chat with friends, or for travel? Don't waste your time studying a bunch of words you'll never use.
Well, to be honest, the ambiguity doesn't necessarily make Chinese much harder for westerners. We just get used to it after a while. The other direction seems to be really hard for Chinese people though. Even among Chinese who have been in the US for years, I always hear people confusing he vs. she, or tenses.
What makes Chinese hard for me is: distinguishing tones, words that sound the same, memorizing so many characters, and the differences in word order.
@colin.you are right. basically 2000 common if you leared that will be reading newspaper or articals. chinese character form is not like english. One word=multiple meanings. english: multiple words of variety of form= one meaning. for leaning english. if you wanna understand new words. you 'd better learn the different form of this words.such:understand,understood,uerderstanding..I don't know why english is so complex of using multipule forms to express things.don't tell me learn it cause the grammar needed it..except this resaon, what else that these forms need to be used into english ?
