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Posts: 18

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Q: How many of you have given up on learning Chinese?

I'm still at the early stages of learning the language and so far it's been quite fun.

However, this isn't the first time I (try to) learn a language, and I realize that the excitement may soon fade away as I get into the routine of work, and as I realize how gargantuan the task is.

 

So...for the expats who've been in China much longer than I have: is learning Chinese still an objective for you? Have you given up? Is it not really that useful? Or have you hit the 'ceiling' where you can get by with daily necessities, and learning anything more wouldn't add much to your day to day life

12 years 2 days ago in  Teaching & Learning - China

 
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I have tried on several occasions over the last 6 years to seriously learn Chinese.  And each time, life will get in the way and I will give up.

 

For me, the one thing that motivates me to learn the language more is the reaction I get when I speak even a little of my survival level Chinese.  The person I am talking to will practically light up and become much friendlier.  So it makes me want to learn more when this happens.

 

From a social level, it helps you make friends much easier.  From a life level, you can get around much easier.  And from a business level, well...  I normally pretend I don't know any Chinese at all.  That way I can listen in on the conversations at the meeting table.  It is amazing what people will say in front of you when they don't think you can understand them.

 

One time, I was in a bar and there was a table of young ladies next to mine and they were all talking about me in Chinese.  One in particular was very curious about if all the sexual things she had heard about foreigners was true or not.

 

Her friends asked her what she had heard and then she went into detail about the rumors she knew.  It was so funny to hear that I couldn't help but laugh and say, in Chinese, "Yep, they are all true."

 

I think the poor girls neck snapped with how fast she turned to look at me.  Her eyes went as wide as trash can lids, she turned bright red, then ran from the bar crying.  I just laughed and went back to my beer.

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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With me it depends.  Somtimes I feel that it is just a matter of time and patience (we all cannot be Da Shan) but there are also days where I really DO want to give up. 

However, it has been nearly five years and I still try...

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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I know four languages, Chinese is fifth one i don't know it's matter of age or my CPU is full ? or really this language is difficult i am 46 , i gave up.

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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i have quit learning chinese. the only reason i would need to learn chinese is for dating. it will not help me after i leave china

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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Well, I don't try hard enough to learn Chinese. I would like to know it better, but sometimes I wonder if I really want to know what others say about me.

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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I have tried on several occasions over the last 6 years to seriously learn Chinese.  And each time, life will get in the way and I will give up.

 

For me, the one thing that motivates me to learn the language more is the reaction I get when I speak even a little of my survival level Chinese.  The person I am talking to will practically light up and become much friendlier.  So it makes me want to learn more when this happens.

 

From a social level, it helps you make friends much easier.  From a life level, you can get around much easier.  And from a business level, well...  I normally pretend I don't know any Chinese at all.  That way I can listen in on the conversations at the meeting table.  It is amazing what people will say in front of you when they don't think you can understand them.

 

One time, I was in a bar and there was a table of young ladies next to mine and they were all talking about me in Chinese.  One in particular was very curious about if all the sexual things she had heard about foreigners was true or not.

 

Her friends asked her what she had heard and then she went into detail about the rumors she knew.  It was so funny to hear that I couldn't help but laugh and say, in Chinese, "Yep, they are all true."

 

I think the poor girls neck snapped with how fast she turned to look at me.  Her eyes went as wide as trash can lids, she turned bright red, then ran from the bar crying.  I just laughed and went back to my beer.

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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I haven't given up, but neither have I made a grand effort to learn the language, either. Obviously, the benifits of being fluent, or at the least, semi-fluent would be many. At this point, I can understand a lot more than I can vocalize, mainly because of context, body language, and knowing some key words and phrases, so I know if someone is talking about me. Of course, not every time if they shy away from using those cues (which they usually don't). People very rarely try to hide the fact that they are discussing you if they think you don't know any of the language.

 

At this point, I'm trying to decide if it would be worth my time and effort to really try and master Chinese, since everyone here uses the local dialect on a day to day basis. Sometimes I think it would be fun, other times I think, "what the heck, I ain't gonna be here forever, so what's the point?"

 

Socially, it would definately help. The "gotta factor" which Xpat.John wrote about would be worth it, also. So, no, I haven't given up, just progressing rather slowly.

goomba:

I am in the same boat.  Learning slowly due to the arcane nature of this language and the lack of time to be a proper student.  One thing that kills me in my work is that if a Chinese person does not like my answer they suddenly lose the ability to speak English.  On these occasions it would be great to be fluent.

11 years 29 weeks ago
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12 years 1 day ago
 
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I have tried twice to take classes. Both times for one reason or another the classes stopped. I lost interest or had something else to do. Many people ask me why I can't speak Chinese and I tell them I don't know. My wife's family has determined that I must learn in an effort to communicate with them and even that hasn't pushed me to give it another try. I don't talk to them and I guess I could say I have no idea what I am missing.Is that a good thing, time will tell.

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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 I think every situation is different. I moved here with my Chinese husband a few months ago and we planning to live here, so I kinda have to learn.

 

Although, it's a good thing I can't communicate with my  mother-in-law...we never argue!

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12 years 1 day ago
 
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Well ..  She has a Good Point ..  They can not pick up any arguments or fights .. Why ? 

Just because of lack of knowledge of the Chinese Language ....

 

It is a very Good point of hers .. I like that .. 

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11 years 51 weeks ago
 
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I also gave up, I lived in Guanghou for 18 months so spoke some Cantonese, later I went northwards to Zhangjiagang Jiangsu for 3 years 2 months,  great place, but no-one understood Cantonese. So I turned my hand to Mandarin, unfortunately it seems I was just wasting money as most want to communicate in English. Now in Wuhan and its all Wuhanwa, someone will tell you its pronunciation is this and others will tell you different, so I have called it a day.

chenhan:

LOL,my hometown is Hubei province and i stayed in Wuhan for 2 years from late 2009 to early 2011 and i will be back to Wuhan in this national holiday.Yeah,there are many dialects in Hubei Province as you have been informed.But no matter where you go in this country except  Xinjiang,Tibet and some really quite remote places,you can always communicate with the natives in Chinese.Though they speak dialects,they can also understand and speak Chinese,that's why Chinese is also called pu tong hua (a common language). Chinese from different places also can't understand each other if they just say dialects,so we use Chinese in common.By the way,i miss re gan mian in cai lin ji,i can't wait to eat there now.Wuhan is totally chaos compared with most big cities in China,but it has its own character.Sometimes you may feel the natives in Wuhan are kind of rude,but living there is interesting.Enjoy your time in Wuhan!

11 years 29 weeks ago
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11 years 29 weeks ago
 
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