The Chinese Language - 汉语

Well, most people will tell you that Chinese is one of the most difficult languages to learn. I agree completely. 汉语很难！However, do not let that put you off. Chinese is a wonderful language and it is a joy to learn it! 汉语也很开心学习！(I don't know if that makes sense in Chinese, but I am learning, right?...)

So, I first became interested in the Chinese language and culture in high school because my family had friends who were from China. Hearing them talk in Chinese and learning about the culture from them made me want to learn the language and go to China to understand their language and culture even more. Then, in college, I took a summer school class to learn beginning Chinese. Although we did not get very far, it was a very good base. During my last year of college, I took another beginning class and with the base that I already had, I learned a lot and understood a lot more than I would have otherwise. I suggest this if you want to learn Chinese and if you have time. If you have a base, it is easier to soak up more of the language.

More suggestions for learning Chinese (not that I am an expert!):

1. If you didn't already know, there are four tones, which are very important to the spoken language. Each tone gives the same word a different meaning. Practice the tones!

2. Practice listening for and being able to say the differences between zh and j, sh and x, and q and ch. Also practice the sounds c and z, as those are harder sounds to make for people who don't speak the language.

3. Even though it may not seem it, writing characters is very important! If you are trying to communicate with someone who speaks a different dialect, they will not understand what you say, nor the pinyin that you write, however, they will understand the characters that you write. The characters are written the same in almost all of the places in China, so if you can write characters, then you can communicate almost anywhere. So make sure to practice writing the characters. They are very easy to forget - believe me - just practice over and over again.

4. Make friends with a person who is Chinese. Then talk with them in Chinese. Besides having a new friend and getting to learn about a new culture, you will practice your oral speaking and you will learn a lot. If you want to set up a language exchange with them, you can have them help you with Chinese and then you can help them with your language, such as English. This is very fun!

5. Study! A lot! 学习！