When you a learn language that uses a writing system that is different from your own, do you first learn how to read/write and how to pronounce it? Or do you dive right in and start learning to speak

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Ian Dickey

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When you a learn language that uses a writing system that is different from your own, do you first learn how to read/write and how to pronounce it? Or do you dive right in and start learning to speak from day 1? Me personally. I know what it's like to start a language having no idea about pronunciation. I ended up changing my approach and starting new languages with a priority on pronunciation and reading. It may have slowed me down a bit but it really helped me accelerate later. But I also have found it is not always possible to start learning the writing system for a language like Cantonese. So in this case I find I am just diving in and learning to speak. Of course my experience with different languages has helped me with the pronunciation but I feel like I am at a disadvantage not being able to read much. I know if my romanized notes are that helpful. I would love to hear about your opinions and experience. I have met so many great teachers and experienced many different approaches to teaching but I only have my own experience to reflect on. I want to know about yours. Maybe we can learn something from one another.

2022년 2월 7일 오전 6:07

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Actually I am not really focusing which tone a Vietnamese or Cantonese word has. Although I can speak Mandarin Chinese at a decent level, I can’t read some difficult characters. Knowing the etymology of a word, can also make it easier to remember a word. For example: the word for black in Turkish: kara, Japanese 黒 (Kuro) The famous three words, though, through and thought. In Dutch: toch, door, dacht. Here you can see the gh is in Dutch ch and it is pronounced in Dutch as well. The word for country in Vietnamese quốc gia, Japanese 国家(Kokka), Mandarin Chinese 国家 (Guo jia) The Turkish mi represents 吗 in Mandarin Chinese. Water in Turkish, su, Mandarin Chinese (shui) Now in Korean 지금 (jigeum), in Cantonese 而家 (ji gaa). But maybe there would be more relations between languages. I am not familiar with other languages. Also if you have time you can read nihao.jouwweb.nl I don’t know how much Mandarin Chinese you would understand. Maybe cool to read.

2022년 2월 7일

It appears you’ve already studied some Thai and Vietnamese — how is that coming along? When it comes to languages, I always make accurate pronunciation my first priority. For Cantonese, that meant mastering the tones ASAP. Next, it’s important to learn a romanization system (or two…), because at first, you won’t be able to trust your ear 100%. You need to check yourself constantly — you may think you heard a low rising tone, but then you check and see that it’s a medium level tone or a high rising tone. Practicing the wrong pronunciation is worse than not practicing at all. Likewise, you’ll need romanization to get the proper reading from a dictionary entry. Romanization is just a tool for getting your pronunciation under control. Chinese characters are also well worth learning (at least to recognize), but only when you come to that understanding on your own — never force yourself to do something just because some stranger in an online forum suggests it :D

2022년 2월 7일

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