Tips on Learning Mandarin

[@Thelinguist]

My Language Learning Resource: Where I Learn Languages ⇢ www.lingq.com/ --- FREE Language Learning Resources 10 Secrets of Language Learning ⇢ www.thelinguist.com LingQ Grammar Guides ⇢ www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/ My blog ⇢ blog.thelinguist.com/ The LingQ blog ⇢ www.lingq.com/blog/ --- Social Media Instagram ⇢ instagram.com/lingosteve_/ TikTok ⇢ www.tiktok.com/@lingosteve Facebook ⇢ facebook.com/lingosteve Twitter ⇢ twitter.com/lingosteve LingQ Discord ⇢ discord.gg/ShPTjyhwTN

[@Thelinguist]

I am not conscious of using grammar, I'm only conscious of using the language. I enjoy developing the ability to express myself according to the conventions and patterns of another language. I am motivated by the joy of communicating with native speakers, reading about the history, culture and literature, and using the language.

[@李白-f5u]

All Sinitic languages have tone sandhi. Pay attention to the tone sandhi in Beijing Mandarin. When a word start with a character with tone 3. And start with 一 and 不

[@danthelanguageman]

Your videos inspired me to learn languages, Steve. You encouraged me over email when I was on exchange in France back in 2009, and I can now proudly say I speak French, Spanish and Chinese relatively fluently - I've even started putting out my own videos to try to encourage potential learners, too! Keep up the good work, and don't stop learning!

[@kingnaira8648]

Any tips ?

[@Thelinguist]

I will do videos in French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, and Swedish, and follow them with this kind of video explaining a bit about the language. I do not speak Arabic so I cannot do it for Arabic. I may do one for Cantonese and possibly Czech, Romanian and Korean if I get ambitious.

[@Jimserac]

Cantonese has an unearthly beauty to it but if I want to do herbal research I must stick to Mandarin. Cantonese is so enticing I have to be careful to not listen to it or I will be compelled to learn it. Curiously similar in sound to Vietnamese (another language whose sound is of such sublime beauty) though i don't believe the two are linguistically connected at all. I have been told that Cantonese is a better gateway to old China, don't know if that is true or not. Maybe after reading "Twenty Lectures" I will know a bit more. (Sidenote on Russian if you are learning it: Try "Hero of Our Times" by Lermonotov as a first reader, followed by Captain's Daughter by Pushkin. Both classics. That's how we did it in high school. I was in the Russian program so I cold read Russian chess magazines.

[@LitHits]

Amazing, I am Chinese Canadian and I have recently began to finally learn the language that my parents speak. I found it very intimidating and wasn't sure if I could do it, then I wandered on your videos and this really motivates me to not only keep trying, but to enjoy it as well. Thank you.

[@lahagemo]

LitHits hiya i just ended up wondering, how has your mandarin learning been so far?

[@edwardtang1977]

If someone asked me what is most fulfilling in life, I would tell them it is learning to see things from a foreign perspective. I am a native Mandarin speaker. I also speak Thai and English. Looking at another culture and seeing things from the other side makes me a much mature person. To have loved a girl from a completely different culture and loving them using another language is the best thing that has happened to me. It is amazing how much you learn about your own country seeing it as an outsider.

[@zamanium7517]

good words

[@donghyunkim2217]

Really wanna learn Mandarin. My primary languages are Korean and English any tips ??

[@donghyunkim2217]

***** How?

[@jasonstallworth]

Truthseeker I'm learning Thai and would like to dive into Chinese once I become more fluent in Thai.

[@asimqadri2009]

Really golden words

[@grassgrow030]

You are the Grandfather I have always wished for. So many amazing things you speak of! I could spend all day listening to you!

[@srikanthkris1621]

Absolutely.

[@keshyaunphramawan]

He inspired me a lot

[@Rattooo]

What about your real grandpa?

[@grassgrow030]

@@Rattooo ive never got to know him unfortunately. Apparently i saw him when i was a baby but i dont remember it.

[@Thelinguist]

In my day we did not have computers with Chinese language word processing. I simply don't know if it's possible to learn characters without practicing writing them. I suggest you do it and see how it turns out.

[@Thelinguist]

Both Japanese and Mandarin are difficult languages that will take a long time to learn. In a way Chinese is more useful today. Japanese can be more rewarding in some ways. What matters the most is which language you are most interested in learning. I don't see any relevance to the fact that Thai is also a tonal language.

[@ambycakes]

I'm so grateful that I found your channel. I'm beginning my second year of Mandarin and I've been having a lot of trouble with wanting to emphasize tones. I also speak Spanish, so I find myself wanting to structure my sentences the same way you would with romantic languages. I have yet to make that natural connection with Mandarin, and am still translating phrases in my head. I will definitely be paying attention to your videos. Thank you!

[@jinranpan3860]

Here is a Chinese who wants to learn Spanish 😑

[@86BusinessSolutions]

Steve, I have worked and lived on and off in Mainland China since 1996 and have attended 2 universities and appreciate everything you have said and love your ability to articulate on who to approach learning Mandarin! Well done to you and thank you for a truly enjoyable learning experience.

[@Thelinguist]

Thanks.

[@DI-vd4vm]

我从你介绍如何学习中文中看出来你确实深入了解了中文，我认为这很难得，因为感觉大部分外国人都无法理解我们的语言，感触颇深啊。 You turly understand how chinese language is working I really appreciate that.

[@socratess55551]

yea, i've found there are 3 phases that you need to go thru over and over in learning chinese/japanese. 1. learn a character 2. learn a word 3. learn a collocation (seq of words, ie when and how to use the word). repeat that a bunch of times over and over for the win. I think a lot of people wait too long for #3 or skip it altogether. I guess in other languages you just have to worry about #2 and #3.

[@lefrense8045]

Hello everyone reading this, I'm a fourteen year old boy trying to learn Mandarin chinese, I'm learning this language because I love the country and everything about the language in general, I will say that I'm struggling A LOT but my mom and dad encourage me to keep learning this beautiful language and I know that one day I will be able to speak and write it and hopefully be able to travel to the beautiful country someday.

[@CallOfDuty123-j5x]

How is it now lol

[@vincentaurelius2390]

I think there's a lot here that I can apply to my Russian, especially the idea that once you enter into the world of the language and discover it, it becomes a part of you and you enjoy it. Great words, Thanks.

[@Thelinguist]

Great to hear it and good luck in China!

[@seapicklefrommars413]

This was SO useful. I lived in china for about 3 years when covid hit and now I am back in the US. I have slowly stopped practicing Chinese, because I keep on feeling like I can't learn myself. I am very afraid I will lose my memory of the language and never actually learn it. But this helped me get ideas and motivate me to keep on learning! Thank you for your videos! I love them!

[@JesusIsMySaviorILoveJesus]

This is great encouragement. Seeing someone that's been there, understands the difficulty, and overcame it and became very fluent in the language

[@UDX-340]

This helped me. thanks steve,2 yrs of vietnamese study,now 6 months to fluency!

[@Thelinguist]

Thanks Don, I must have missed this question. I would say in answer to the original question that I speak Mandarin 10 to 15 times a year.

[@Thelinguist]

No I haven't read Mo Yan's novels. I have been focusing my attention on languages other than Chinese for the last 10 years or so.

[@Thelinguist]

I thought I answered this question but perhaps I answered Don instead. I would say in answer to the original question that I speak Mandarin 10 to 15 times a year.

[@jasonstallworth]

Thanks for the tips! I'm learning Thai language, although I cannot call myself fluent yet. But I'd also like to learn Chinese. I've become fascinated with learning other languages. Do you recommend studying more than one language? And what are your tips for keeping up with multiple languages on a day to day basis?

[@Thelinguist]

I try to focus on one and occasionally read or listen in another.

[@trommelbiel]

Thank you. I really enjoyed the tips. I am learning Chinese on my own and I am enjoying it.

[@mbkedda2359]

teach me some of it plz!!!!

[@OxygenBeats]

I agree with so much of this. We definitely use tones, and I don't think too many people realize that, we just don't use them to change definitions of words but instead emphasis. And I also think much of chinese is very rational. Beef = cow meat. I think the biggest challenge for me right now is all the different "measure" words.

[@Thelinguist]

You'll get used to them. Just don't fight them. And use 一个， 两个， etc. when in doubt.

[@OxygenBeats]

Steve Kaufmann - lingosteve thank youuu :)

[@Thelinguist]

Of course it is always helpful to live in the country where the language is spoken. But it is not necessary. My tones are not that bad, and I have never lived in China, only visited. It is necessary to listen a lot and also to speak a lot.

[@ErnestineLyons]

How did you keep up with Chinese after returning to Canada? I lived in China for a year on a Chinese government scholarship but now that I'm back in the US I'm forgetting a lot of it. Your mandarin is amazing.

[@Thelinguist]

What do you mean by a few languages? Achieving a high level in any language takes time. How many languages you can speak to a high level, will depend on how much time you have to spend with these languages. Once you have achieved a high level, maintaining them is not difficult.

[@TaiFerret]

I really like these "about learning" videos. They make me more excited about learning languages.

[@DarkWhisper07]

I love your videos Steve, your enthusiasm for language learning is infectious!

[@mliv695]

Wow this is such an impressive speech! You mister has a better knowledge and evaluation of China than most Chinese and foreigners do. I appreciate it and respect!

[@Thelinguist]

Thanks.

[@AaronJoost]

Steve, I am living in Shanghai learning Mandarin at the moment. You have always been an inspiration to me in my language learning endeavors. I showed my teacher some if your videos on learning languages, and she says I should follow your example lol. Keep up the awesome work! 谢谢您，我希望我以后跟你一样。加油！

[@Tim.D.Kelley]

a chinese friend of mine once told me, that chinese language is based on emotion and feelings whereas english for example is based on intellect. so in this way, chinese was more of expressing feeling and emotions rather than intellectually expressing things.

[@00Serrah00]

I've been watching this Asian lady try to teach the tones and in two seconds you taught me more than she did lol

[@Thelinguist]

I have told you what I think. You will have to make up your own mind.

[@jaxhere1]

Thank you for this inspiration Steve. My own limited experience, so far, coincides with everything you've said and your results gives me encouragement to keep on the track.

[@DarkWhisper07]

A question to you Steve; what is your favourite part of language learning? Personally I love understanding and using the grammar that I learned, but the thing that drives me on the most is being able to switch between languages and speak with natives.

[@Motivatedmailman]

Cool video. I've been learning mandarin using the audible pimsleur program.

[@Tim.D.Kelley]

in english we use letters (sounds) to make up individual words,. whereas in chinese they use symbals to represent meaning, rather than individual sounds to represent meaning. though the tones in chinese indicate meaning itself, and english our tones represent expression to a meaning.

[@Reizermo]

Thanks for posting this video. Very inspirational when you are trying to find first gear when starting the Mandarin journey. On a separate note, I would think this man has a story or two to tell that are worth hearing!!

[@pivotmaster861]

I have been learning for mere weeks but the things you say already ring true I think after some consistency it's not as hard of a language as it is made out to be

[@pearlfinder1]

excellent video...thank you so much for sharing your precious experience.

[@TaeIeon]

Great video! just started learning mandarin chinese a few days ago and stumbled over this video. Subscribing...

[@JeremyGalloway]

This guy is the Walter White of language learning. What a badass!

[@Diotallevi73]

Who is Walter White?

[@tamago9037]

from breaking bad

[@markchavez738]

Walter White is a drug dealer on a tv show. Who is really good at what he does.

[@marcopolo3001]

Because he is a chemistry genius

[@nomadicweaboo8358]

I literally just finished the last episode today...

[@zweiosterei]

Steve is talking about the 20s and 30s but we are in the 20s now. Isn't that amazing?

[@TheStrataminor]

I am 45...so not really! lol

[@moxigeren50gabe23]

Salamat po, Gracias, Xie Xie, Arigato, Grazie, Thank you

[@victorcodemgs3]

Absolutely agree with all your points

[@JasonEyermann]

I learned Thai for 3 months but then changed to mandarin. Even telling the time in Thai is challenging. But learning some thai prepared me for the measure words. As both thai and mandarin use measure words for everything. There are also a few other similarities. At some point i want to return to thai.

[@Chameleonardodavinci]

As always your videos are encouraging! Thanks Steve

[@alexchag]

Fantastic tips! Thank you very much for sharing your experience!

[@philv2529]

What helped me with mandarin tones was thinking about how we talk in english at the dentist or with food in our mouths. We say "un hunh" for yes "un un" for no "unUNun" for I don't know "hunh" for what etc.

[@cinnamondan4984]

I enjoyed this immensely.

[@KurtCaro13]

Love this video! Check out my blog post on my new years spent in CHINA. chinesepod.com/blog/khilling-with-kurtis-flashback-to-new-years-in-china/

[@asimqadri2009]

Thank you very much Steve .. for another great video

[@johnrosson7425]

I have always wondered how if using correct tones is really so vital to oral communication, then how how do Chinese understand and appreciate Chinese songs? My conclusion is that tones are't truly crucial for effective communication in Chinese. Without proper tones, one will certainly sound bad and there may be a bit more confusion from time to time, but many 外国人 become reasonably fluent in everyday Chinese while never mastering the tones. Have you thought about this before?

[@Thelinguist]

Xiang Luo You needn't be perfect but the better the tones, the better you are understood, and the better the impression created with the native speaker.

[@runreilly]

Always great insight and advice. Thanks!

[@brod2man]

WOO ALAN WATTS!

[@zooychan7502]

This is a really inspiring video !! Thanks !!

[@kevinsspanish]

Awesome information!

[@samsonsylar]

This is a very impressive speech. I am from Hong Kong and i speak Cantonese. Mandarin and Cantonese have the same grammar system, however, there are still so many different between them. For example, Cantonese has 9 tones while Mandarin has 4 tones only, the totally different pinyin system, etc. That's why it is so hard for us to master well Mandarin no matter the way we speak or the accent we have, etc. Let alone the way we write( traditional and simplified). Will you try to learn Cantonese? it is challenging.

[@Thelinguist]

I also speak Cantonese after a fashion. A discussion on language learning in Cantonese

[@kryss12345671]

Not sure why you think Time is so hard. Its just 1am-5am= Dtee.., 6-11am= ... Mong chao, 12 p.m=Tiang wan, 1-3pm= bai...mong, 4-6 ... mong yen, 7pm-11pm= 1 toom--> 6 toom, 12 a.m.= Tiang keun. It seems like a lot but just practice a bit and it's easy. Good luck I hope you can memorize it some day

[@henryp218]

How long did it take you to be fluent in Mandarin Chinese? And how long did it take you to be able to read articles and write in Chinese? Thanks Steve!

[@flx2525]

Thank you, I want to start learning Mandarin next year.

[@ChinaMaike]

Wade - Giles is a romanization style of Chinese based solely on English syllables and their pronounciation in English. It it best suited for English speakers learning Chinese. Pinyin however was devised so that other non English speaking people could also learn Mandarin chinese with a similar romanized system and based on no less than 5 other romance languages in mind. So the pinyin spellings and pronounciations are not based solely on English but other European languages as well. That's the reason pinyin may not seem to make sense when you first start learning mandarin. The creators of pinyin have used the average pronounciation of groups of syllables gathered from several different languages that closest approximates the Chinese sounds or words. You don't need to know English to understand how to pronounce pinyin FYI Chairman Mao was the biggest supporter in the creation of pinyin which was started circa 1958 but not implemented into common use till almost 1980. Pinyin is now the first thing chinese children learn before they start learning to write chinese characters.

[@Thelinguist]

Mike Jerema I doubt that pin yin is easier for non-English speakers or Wade-Giles easier for English speakers.

[@ChinaMaike]

I agree with you. Neither Wade-Giles or Pinyin perfectly replicate spoken Mandarin phonetically. However I didn't mean to imply pinyin was easier for non English speakers to learn. Perhaps what I should have said was that pinyin was developed to be "more intuitive" for non-English speakers to aid in learning Mandarin and Wade -Giles was developed by English speakers and therefore is better suited and perhaps more intuitive for English speakers to use. The biggest difference I've noticed between the two systems is that the Chinese themselves created pinyin while foreigners [waibin] created Wade-Giles. We tend to hear foreign language and try to reproduce them by using what is most familiar to us; usually the sounds that make up our mother tongues. What I notice about pinyin is that when I hear Chinese people speak there is no one definitive pronounciation to some of the most standard words such as "you" & "shan" even when you allow for tones. I assume that's because Mandarin native speakers have many different regional dialects and accents and therefore there is a lot of variance in how words are heard and then reproduced. I assume that the Chinese creators of pinyin knew of this and made a conscious allowance for this variance when selecting certain syllables from other foreign languages to represent their corresponding hanzi. Therefore "you" can also be pronounced as yo and "shan" can also sound like san to compensate for the different variations in regional pronounciation. You say "to mate o", I say "toe maat o" to quote an example.

[@hannahm6472]

Thanks Steve - Definitely needed this motivation about salami technique with character writing - I seem to be at a plateau intermediate stage.

[@Dweesil]

I really enjoy your videos.

[@alexlloyd3850]

What do you think about foregoing learning to hand-write characters? I've been totally ignoring it for the simple fact that I don't think I'll ever need to write Chinese by hand. I've mostly been focusing on reading and reviewing vocabulary to recognize characters.

[@bud384]

big thanks for you and thank God for this channel!

[@federicovallin]

Very encouraging indeed

[@BobbyEshleman]

Using particles 啊 (ah)， 哇 (wa)， etc..., or the grammar form 是。。。 的 (shi ... de), putting the phrase or word emphasized in between the two characters. Also, they will very explicitly pronounce a word's tone in order to emphasize it.

[@boyisun]

Very true. If the syllable being stressed is third tone, the pitch goes right down to the bottom of hell. If it's a second tone, the pitch launches straight up to the top of the heaven.

[@spencergrant3936]

Thank you for the insights sir!

[@TheSunIsMyDestroyer]

thank you for sharing your wisdom, as a naive lad, i treasure such things dearly.

[@159329]

you have a way with words my friend

[@jrthor67]

Great video. Thanks alot!

[@elllllllle939]

A Chinese friend of mine, her name is xu xiao, non-Chinese always pronounce it so funny so she decided to name herself an English name to make other people’s life easier 😂

[@JasonEyermann]

No. it's not easy. And yes, classifiers in Thai and measure words in chinese, but it's the same thing. Also I forgot to say the tones are also very similar.

[@ALoonwolf]

If you are learning a language with a significantly different way of writing, like Greek or Hebrew, what is the very first thing that you learn? THE ALPHABET. It puzzles me that when learning Chinese, people don't first learn the radicals. Imagine reading and writing whole words of Greek or Hebrew just by remembering them like they were a picture of numerous lines, instead of known symbols giving information about meaning and pronunciation.

[@atf300t]

Hi Steve, You’ve made an interesting comparison of Chinese tones and English intonation. I’ve heard many English learners saying that it’s much easier to acquire the English intonation if you live in an English-speaking country. It was the only one aspect of their pronunciation that improved dramatically over a relative short period of time. So do you think that living in China is extremely helpful to acquire right tones or no more than with any other aspect of the language?

[@Chaufoxy]

I don't know, but to me English is the hard language to learn in the planet. Chinese hard at first but very easy when you get it down because the foundation never change it there. English so many rule so many changing on and on never stop.

[@nnekaelechi4855]

Good English there my friend

[@imanezouhour7699]

@@nnekaelechi4855 Me too

[@alltheway3]

So good! Thank you for making this video.

[@ppcontinuouslearning]

Hi Steve, how long would it take to learn to read a Chinese newspaper fluently if one does not know any characters yet? How long does it take Chinese children to learn to read their first newspaper and what subject would that be?

[@TheStrataminor]

No, a few years with dedication....the answer from Hope below is BS....basically she is saying, 'You can't'...but you can....don't listen to

[@kryss12345671]

Because Thai and Chinese are a lot closer in terms of similarities than Thai and Japanese, so that's why I thought it may be easier to learn Thai and Mandarin at the same time over Thai and Japanese at the same time. What do you think on all of this?

[@pardieupopper339]

Mr. Kaufmann is a busy guy, so he may not get back to your questions. I cannot answer the second. To the first, since the 60s when he learned French then Chinese, he has learned ten more languages. Some of them are: Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Czech, Russian, Swedish, Italian,. Does he "really" know them? Yes, he does.

[@SteveKaufmann]

I told you that what matters most is which one you want to learn the most.

[@jeansaliun8932]

thank you

[@kryss12345671]

Oh yeah. Telling time is actually easy if you study it for about 1 hour you will never forget if you are using flashcards. What are measure words? Are you talking about classifiers? or? If you are then yes I think that classifiers are the hardest part about Thai for sure.

[@kimtaeyeon1856]

I'm the beginner Mandarin learner I just start for 4 days only ....but I truly recognize that it's really really hard language that I've never met ....Can you give me the effective ways in learning Mandarin more faster and easier ?

[@pedazodetorpedo]

Personally I cannot see how anyone ever learnt tones using Wade-Giles, I am finding Pinyin to be indispensable for learning the basics of Mandarin, and the transcriptions only seem strange when compared to English, but not when you take into account sounds of other languages. "X" is not so strange to me because it sounds very similar to a "sh" like sound which exists in Catalan.

[@Thelinguist]

Don't see the the relationship between Wade Giles and the difficulty of learning tones, it is just a matter of what you are used to.

[@AlinefromToulouse]

It s strange Steve Kaufmann does not talk about what I found the most difficult together with the characters that is that a lots of words are short and words sound the same because of the close sounds tch, ks dj etc...which make understanding difficult.

[@zamanium7517]

I like your fluent english, Steve

[@lestc8579]

Альбом Длямарков very impressive

[@markchavez928]

Thanks Steve! Very good video.

[@jjay75]

Pinyin is pronounced that way because it was developed using the Portuguese pronunciations of the letters.

[@GeneTsao]

You have to understand that Pinyin is not based on Latin alphabets - it's based on Cyrillic / Russian alphabets. That's why "C" in Pinyin is pronounced as "Tz," just like in Russian.

[@chenlongwang2898]

Er,in fact,Pinyin is not based on foreign language,it's based on our ancient phonetic symbol that Taiwanese men still use now.Because English was being used by everybody,mainland changed the ancient symbols into Latin letters in 1955

[@verna0072001]

Chenlong Wang I used the zhuyin. but I think Pinyin system that's why the foreigners couldn't learn the Chinese characters.... and I think Pinyin is one of typing the words...

[@jledsousa]

Gene Tsao In Russian "C" corresponds to "S" in latin alphabet, it's true though that some slavic languages spell with C what is pronounced TS in English

[@boyisun]

should the pinyin "c" be "ц" instead? And also the "д" is sometimes similar to the pinyin "j"?

[@shilohpeterson5307]

Thank you!

[@rdesgarets]

Thanks for the tips Steve! What resource would you recommend for studying chinese history in chinese (audio + text)? I could not find any on Lingq so far. Cheers

[@unclebrizz1053]

I believe there is power in positivity! Do not be intimidated by learning a language, and I can say from experience, especially Mandarin Chinese! It really isn't so hard! Just keep after it! You CAN do it! Don't get bogged down, or even slowed down by what you might, at first, perceive as difficult! YOU WILL CONQUER IT! :D

[@slfanta]

为什么(for-what), what for/why, makes perfect sense. Yeah,patterns 要不是xxx 我才不xxx xxx的话就好了 Lattern approach should apply to most languages.

[@dennislt313]

How do you associate the Mandarin sound with the character?

[@clarissa3356]

Thank you :) this is sooo helpful

[@fAEtusDeletus]

I just have this terrible way of approaching a new language... I feel uncomfortable starting out with basic set phrases, because they don't really teach you the proper structure and grammar of the sentence, so I turn to cramming grammar and vocabulary, which I then rearly revise... I really don't know where to start and what with...

[@Thelinguist]

Relax. You have to get the language in you, lots of exposure, before the grammar can start to stick. Don't worry about what you can say in the early stages, but work on understanding more and more. Cheers.

[@Dan41565]

I’m here in 2020 and this is till a very useful video ✔️

[@kryss12345671]

Well Thai and Mandarin are tonal and have similar grammar structures (correct me if I am wrong) and they are both monosyllabic with short words, unlike Japanese. I am not really more interested in one of them over the other. Both I have equal interest in learning. I was thinking because Thai is also monosyllabic that maybe it would be an easier process to learn Mandarin? Or maybe I may get mixed up between Mandarin and Thai? I've never studied 2 languages before at the same time either.