Comments on: Chinese most Difficult Language in the World (2)

By: Китай в ссылках (26.11.2009) / П.С.И. / Магазета

Китай в ссылках (26.11.2009) / П.С.И. / Магазета — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:01:05 +0000

[...] китайский язык — самый сложный в мире: часть I, часть II и часть [...]

By: Decompiled :: Mandarin and Wo

Decompiled :: Mandarin and Wo — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:40:29 +0000

[...] friend sent me a link to a very good article reasoning that Mandarin is the most hardest language to learn at an advanced level, it doesn’t matter your background, race, previous language experience. [...]

By: Uln

Uln — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:07:58 +0000

Spandrell, my advice on chengyus is: don’t try to learn them actively but just pasively. The best is to just read a lot and watch many CCTV serials where they speak like they were chengyu-automats. See my recent post about the serial “冷箭“, there were almost more chengyus than words! The 50th time I heard 引蛇出洞 and 打草惊蛇 I had to jump out the window (luckily Im ground floor)

My technique is not to memorize them on a list, but rather everytime they come up I try my best to guess at them and then look up the dictionary. I find that most of the time, although they are very difficult to use actively, they are easy to remember passively, ie. it is easy to guess/remember the meaning when you have already come across it before.

Besides, apart from the common ones like “不可思议“, the rest are rarely used in conversation. My guess is there are no more than a few dozens of these commonly used ones.

By: Wukailong

Wukailong — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:15:32 +0000

spandrell: “I’m really thinking on getting a long vacation which a Chengyu dictionary and rote learn the whole thing.”

I’ve done that (not the whole thing, but the most common ones), though not on a long vacation. Chengyu is a bit like words – learn a thousand or so from a small dictionary, to ensure that you learn the common ones, and you should be ready to go. I doubt anyone not specifically schooled in classical Chinese knows more than 2000.

Then of course, there’s suhua and yanyu, but these might be learned among the words.

By: Chinese the most Difficult… (and 3) | CHINAYOUREN

Chinese the most Difficult… (and 3) | CHINAYOUREN — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:02:48 +0000

[...] Blog « Chinese most Difficult Language in the World (2) Chinese the most Difficult… (and 3) Written by Uln on November 24th, [...]

By: spandrell

spandrell — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:12:05 +0000

No si ya haces bien, la idea es que te lea gente. Ventaja que tienes de hablar bien inglés.

Chengyu is by far the most difficult part of Chinese, and what makes the difference with other languages. I enjoy seeing TV series based in Beijing, and the speed and ease with which they spit those Chengyu is really amazing. I’m really thinking on getting a long vacation which a Chengyu dictionary and rote learn the whole thing.

Then again, its not really necessary for real life. But　I don’t feel happy myself until I get to a real native level.

By: Uln

Uln — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:18:47 +0000

Will see if I can find the 盗版 on the 三轮车 down the street.

By: Uln

Uln — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:17:52 +0000

Hola, no es por hacerme un nombre, lo que pasa es que empece en Espanyol y la gente no me hacia ni caso, nunca tenia comentarios. Es que en Espanya hay muy poca gente interesada en estas cosas.

Ademas, escribiendo en ingles tengo la ventaja de que me puden leer muchos Chinos.

By: Uln

Uln — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:16:15 +0000

Haha, Kyle your Chinese is amazing for someone who hasn’t studied it formally, I have seen few foreigners communicate so fluently. You are one of the examples I was thinking in the “Chinese is easy” part of the previous post.

I agree with Kyle, and to those who want to follow his advice I say: go for it! And if you are half as talented as he is, you might be chatting freely in Chinese by the end of next year!

By: Wukailong

Wukailong — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:42:35 +0000

The word “matrix” in itself is interesting, because a lot of people in China probably don’t know what a 矩阵 is. I was wondering why The Matrix was translated as 黑客帝国 rather than 矩阵, but in retrospect it seems quite natural.

As an aside, I often find Chinese translations of words more expressive than their English counterparts. 灭火器 is quite obviously some sort of container for the purpose, but if you told a child about a “fire extinguisher” for the first time they would probably not know what kind of thing it was. The same goes for 鼠标, in which you understand it’s not a live mouse you’re talking about.