Mandarin Chinese

Just started tackling this language yesterday.  I am using a mixture of Rosetta Stone and the Pimsleur method.

Anyone have any tips, programs, or methods?

Just looking for any extra help where I can get it.  Thanks. :)

enjoy your dead language.
japanese > chinese

It depends, are you serious about learning to speak the language fluently or just learning it to have simple conversations with Chinese people when you go there on holiday?

1) To the first reply:  Ok?  I really appreciate your life advice, but I'm going to go ahead and not take it from a biased anime nerd who jerks it to cartoons.  Also, dead?  China is set to be a world superpower in the next 10 years.  Mandarin will be far more useful than Japanese before long.


2) I am serious about learning it fluently.  I am planning to move there within the next 4 years.

I too just started taking it via school.
The teacher however doesn't speak much english.
and what she does isn't very easy to understand.
so I guess it will be very much personal study as compared to much class.

>>2
The Japanese economy is failing and their population is shrinking.
Chinese is the most widely natively spoken language in the world, and China is rapidly catching up with the US in terms of economy and science.

Summary: GTFO weeaboo

>>1
I'm also learning Chinese. Moving to Beijing next week (yay).

Looks like you're trying to self teach. This will be hard. Try to find a language exchange partner, someone you can practice speaking with. I've heard good things about Rosetta, but I doubt it can compare with working directly with a native speaker. If you're looking for more resources, my classes use the Integrated Chinese series of texts, which seem to be pretty popular.

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>>2
You're joking right? Japanese is as good as dead. All they do now is japanify English words. Kurisumasu, garufurendo and my favorite: "kissu".

>>9
That said, Japanese culture will always be a better national product than Chinese culture.

poo

>>10
Japanese culture? Japanese culture died in 1945. What Japan has today is bastardized American culture. It's not like they want to create "crazy Japanese stuff". They want to mimic the west. Their cartoons, their TV shows, their clothes, it's all an attempt at being American. Granted, they fail and make weird shit, but that doesn't make it any more Japanese.

Arguing over which culture is "better" is kind of redundant. Arguably, China has MORE culture, but if you enjoy Japanese culture more, you aren't really "wrong."

Personally, I love Chinese culture, love the variety, am obsessed with HK film, food, etc etc.

Which brings me back to my original point.

Anyone got any mandarin tips?!?!

>>13
Get a language partner. Practice. Watch Chinese movies (make sure they're not in Cantonese). Practice. Live in China. Practice. Go to class. Practice. Also, practice.

>>10
STFU weeaboo

How big is the difference between standard Mandarin and Shanghai Wu?

learn characters everyday (20-30 / day)
buy chinese conversations cd's and listen everyday
find chinese contacts with skype or QQ

>>2
Yeah, but Japanese sounds like robot speak, while Chinese sounds fairly pleasant.

>>17
You must be half-deaf

>>18
As a matter of fact, my hearing is better than yours.

>>19
That reply did not result in ownage. Try harder please.

>>20
Not every post has to "result in "ownage"". Notice that >>18 didn't even try to. We're just discussing the state of my hearing.

>>13
SPOILER: HK films are in Cantonese. Huge part of China's economy is HK-based, which is Cantonese speaking.

Yes, except:

a) Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world

b) Within the next few years, cities like Beijing and Shanghai will be much more economically important than HK.

c) After the handover in 1997, Mainlanders started moving into HK.  Demand for Mandarin speakers in HK is huge, and most cantonese speakers are scrambling to learn mandarin.  Canto is on the way OUT.

d) Regardless of all of the above, most people in HK speak english.  I can't really find the point of an American learning Canto, especially since it has 9 tones (as apposed to Mandarin's 4), easily making it the hardest language in the world.

>>23

Well, I dunno about hardest.

!Xoo is some African language with over 80 click consonants, as well as regular ones.