I think the hardest part is that native speakers seem to talk really fast. like 'Hyper' word bursts. Sometimes 4 or 5 characters will be blended into what sounds like a single sylable (e.g. 不好意思). Is this normal everywhere? Is it more common amoung men?

other than that, I love the fact that I do not have to conjugate verbs, etc. Chinese is strange because it does not really have an alphabet, but this also is somewhat fascinating.

Since our languages are so different, I think it is difficult. But I don’t think people studying Chinese will encounter any problem they can’t solve as long as they have motivation and they work hard.

Hi friend, I would say everything is difficult before it becomes easy. What we need to do is spend time with it. try try and try.. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.