Why You Should Learn Chinese - AvenueX's 3 Reasons

I've been wanting to make this video for a while, so here it is, my 3 most important reasons as of why if you don't know the Chinese language, it is a really worthwhile investment in this day and age to start learning it.
Skip to These places
00:55 - 1st. The General Reason
04:06 - 2nd. The Practical Reason
11:28 - 3rd. The Personal/Linguistic Reason
18:55 - Your suggestions welcomed
For more stuff on Drama and other fun things: avenuex.ca
Twitter: / _avenuex
Instagram: / avenuex
Tumblr: / avenuex123
THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!

[@jssc_san]

Trust me guys. Watching chinese drama without needing to wait for English subtitles is the best thing you could ever feel. Me here have learnt chinese for almost 2 yrs and feel so proud to understand 70% part of chinese drama without eng sub already 😳👌❤️ 真爽

[@kimberlycrichton2932]

Congratulations

[@lonelyuser67]

I‘m 55 and starting out to learn Chinese. It will be a hobby for the next 20 years and maybe also create economic opportunities (as I have worked in internet technologies my whole life and won’t stop doing - some - work until at least 75 - if I will live so long 😊) My mother tongue is a form of German and I am fluent in English which is very similar, so Chinese is really a challenge I welcome. BTW: My first degree was in English Literature, too. And I‘m also a poetry buff having studied lyric/songwriting as well (the only form of poetry where in western countries we are still allowed to rhyme) ❤

[@vernabenn5592]

I came across Chinese drama series during lockdown, became fascinated with the sound of the language and am slowly learning it. As you said in the video it does open out ones world view; the culture and language go hand in hand. (I’m 67 )

[@HeidiSanToro]

Same happened to me....for what ever reason KZbin thought I would love ashes of love...drama...and now I'm hooked on Chinese drama land...and am slowly learning phrases and sounds....I just wish it would have happened earlier to me.

[@flora5090]

Being able to read Jin Yong's books in their original form is probably reason enough to learn mandarin

[@stefunnylim]

i know this comment is 3 years old, but man i have to come in and say yes yes yes yes yes! LOL i am a huge fan of his work (mandarin is my 1st language and i finished all of his books when i was a kid). The way some of the dramas these days are butchering his work after he's passed : ' ( sighs

[@sandrajones2926]

I just now ran across this video or yours that you made 4 years ago. I love the third reason you give. I will be 81 years old this month, and I have spent years studying English grammar. I started studying Chinese about 4 or 5 years ago. I was watching Ice Fantasy on Netflix, and I fell in love with Chinese drama. I wanted to be able to understand what they were really saying. I haven't progressed very far, but I am totally fascinated by the Chinese grammar, the characters, and by the way the two-syllable words combine concepts or sounds. I watched a lot of videos on KZbin, and now I use the Yellowbridge app. I wish I had seen your Chinese language videos when I was a new beginner. They are really excellent.

[@SunDream61]

If you're going to make a video to teach chinese.... how about teaching us a popular chinese poem or a song... The background of that particular poem. The correct pronunciations and how different tone can mean different thing, along with the characters in this poem. That would be so cool.

[@girasolll2810]

good idea！！

[@AvenueX123]

Good idea!

[@dalekwho7]

yeah

[@malika5411]

good idea. I'm in.

[@simonkody6702]

i dont mean to be so offtopic but does any of you know a trick to log back into an Instagram account?? I stupidly lost my login password. I appreciate any tips you can offer me!

[@laluna2264]

im a Chinese language student. its long overdue but i am SO pleased i finally started and thoroughly enjoying myself. Watching C-dramas has helped to show how much i've learnt and enhanced my vocabulary

[@ukallii]

I'm interested in learning. How long would you say it took for you to be able to understand at least some of C-drams? 1 year? 3 years?

[@farihay3365]

@@ukallii It depends on your learning & comprehension abilty + interest. Try to to complete HSK 1, 2 & 3 In one year.

[@jirapanmanee5501]

I used to speak Cantonese, after watching Chinese movies and dramas I realized both dialects sound very much alike which prompted me to start learning Mandarin by myself. It is difficult but it is also lots of fun when watching dramas!

[@AvenueX123]

I would think Cantonese is more difficult especially the tones, 4 for Mandarin is already a lot, and Cantonese has 9? I believe, I can't even tell them apart.

[@jirapanmanee5501]

I picked up Cantonese when I was in school in Ipoh, Malaysia did not really learn it properly, prior to that I was speaking Hakka dialect while living in south Thailand. I may have my ears tuned to the sound already.

[@sol6078]

I'm commenting on this several years later, but this is so true. I grew up learning mandarin, and stopped practicing when I stopped needing to take exams. coming back to it now reading novels & watching dramas, & watching news from china. I realise how much richer of an experience I get out of the media I consume when I consume it in Chinese than when I simply rely on subtitles and translations! I'm having to relearn my vocabulary from the ground up and it kind of makes me regret not keeping up with my mandarin 😅

[@marikasuzuki6645]

I am a new subscriber and stumble upon this video 4 years ago. I am currently studying Mandarin. I first started way back 2015 but because of the high demand at work, I wasn't able to continue, I just recently had time because of covid, so I have picked up the pace, I enrolled for class and buy books and comic books. I am a bilingual of Japanese and English, although Japanese is difficult, I think Mandarin is more profound especially because of poetry and chengyu. I am buying novels (priest and mo xiang tong xu's works hahaha). Japanese isn't my first language either but I think it took me 5 years to master the foundation so I am proud to say I am fluent in that language, so today my target is to be fluent in Mandarin. Wish me luck that I'll be able to master this in 5 years.

[@giuntronvop4194]

your third reason here really touch me on a personal level. Thank you for being able to articulate thoughts that i feel but never can speak out and describe to a fraction of what you did.

[@j59of2]

I like cdramas. And I am 59 years old. I agree absolutely that speaking a foreign language has a lot of positif aspects. The possibility to communicate with other people, open so much ways, understanding, learning, other visions and and. I speak 4 languages ( not perfect, but enough) and I have the wish to learn more languages. I think chinese language will become more important in the next centuries.

[@jcdramamama438]

I have just started trying to learn Mandarin and really appreciate your videos. It was my current obsession with Cdramas that sparked an interest in learning the language.

[@AnNguyen-nh9wx]

The reason I am learning Mandarin because I planned to visits lots of museums in China, but the sound of Cantonese is close to my heart because I've grew up with it; traditional Chinese writing with brush and ink is a form of practicing one's patience and gentleness, my 2 cents. Thank you for another informative clip, as always.

[@AvenueX123]

Cantonese is probably more closely related to real ancient chinese language than Mandarin, since Madarin is heavily influenced by the Manchurians and northern tribes who weren't really Han Chinese.

[@Crivitao]

I’m in my early seventies and have been studying Mandarin for over two years now. It’s a lovely language, I’m thoroughly enjoying the literature and historical records. The music is amazing!

[@sreepradav3378]

This spoke to me on a personal level. I'm Indian btw. I've been thinking of learning this beautiful language. Thanks to this video I'm going to go ahead and do it finally

[@may12355]

I myself have been trying to learn back Chinese seeing as I didn't go past first grade in china. I practice memorization by reading the subtitles in dramas and practice content by translating Chinese songs and I often find myself melancholy that I can't convey the utter beauty of the lyrics.

[@AvenueX123]

exactly, lost in translation

[@maisong4364]

Thanks to Ten miles of peach blossoms and the King's woman.... I have already begun learning. It is fascinating and I really enjoy it. I do find it hard to learn on my own because I don't know where I should start. I speak two other languages and I tried to structure it in those same ways but it's not really working out. I found a website that helps with Chinese but I would like to know how I can practice the characters and remember them. That's the hardest part for me.

[@ahotsfashion]

Can you share the name of the website pls

[@maisong4364]

Ahot Fungroove it’s called yoyochinese, the woman, yang yang, who teaches also puts some of her videos on KZbin. If you KZbin search “yoyochinese” you’ll find her and if you google “yoyochinese” you’ll find the website. If you go to the website you get the first 5 lessons for free then it’s like $130 or something for the 6 month course (I don’t really remember the pricing but you’ll find it on the website) and there are lecture sheets and quizzes in the curriculum.

[@preactive5291]

(Point 2) This is still very true from 2017 when this video was made to now 2022, its even more true today!

[@Lilly94Z]

your video really comes at the right time, thank you :D I signed in for chinese studies this semester (of course that includes the language) and I keep thinking back and forth if it was a good idea and if I'm doing the right thing, thank you so much!

[@AvenueX123]

Good luck with chinese learning!

[@wollevy2328]

This is really a well thought out video.Although it is difficult at times to concentrate on what you are saying,as opposed to how you look,I have watched this several times and am more impressed with each viewing.I can not find fault with any of your arguments nor could I improve on them.As a former economics professor,I would give you an A+ for your section on economics.But what I liked most was your discussion on poetry.It is so true that Chinese poems lose so much when translated.It should be a capital crime to even translate them! I would have been a very proud professor if one of my students had written,not to mention your excellent delivery, such a fine essay!

[@vivianp5805]

I've been wanting to learn Chinese for a while and now you sold me in learning it for real, thank you! 🙂

[@aguitaVM]

I loved the case you make for the Chinese language! I really want to learn Chinese but it seems so difficult. I am a native Spanish speaker and I would love to understand your poetry and your other way of understanding the world. Thanks for your videos and channel!

[@nicolehall2006]

Love your fluent English speaking.

[@thepoetdao2083]

Your 3rd viewpoint is surely the one resonating with me the most at a sentimental level. To appreciate a language for its beauty and otherness is something which I can easily understand and would be a motivation. I agree with u that learning a language will always open a new horizon to everyone who takes on that kind of journey. On one side I imagine that it is not easy to live in a country with a lot of regulations and supervision, on the other hand very few countries might have such a vast and impressive history and culture (as China). Being a native speaker (of mandarin) should be seen as a nice advantage since learning almost any other language ought to be easy(er). Interesting to learn that Chinese poetry is very much attached to a specific form. I want to look into that (poetry) and know now that I have to be content with getting a watered down version (thru translation). Btw I did start learning Chinese but the class could not continue because of covid 19.

[@karolinakris]

Thank You for giving Your time and energy to share the beauty of Your language. One of an interesting things for me, when I watch Your videos, is an explanation of the hidden meaning of Chinese sayings, metaphors.

[@eternelbonheur]

Oh my gosh, I had a feeling you had a literature background. I'm happy to hear about it. You remind me so much of my literature professor.

[@AvenueX123]

LOL, I'm not even close to a literature teacher but thank you

[@joshuasafwattaylor]

Yeah I'm currently learning Thai on my own. And I will be learning transfering to university next semester and planned to learn Chinese. This actually reassured me that I would not be wasting my time.

[@flora5090]

I'm 15 now, and next month my sinology studies at uni will start, including chinese language studies. Really looking forward to it. It'll be 6 semesters of bachelor studies, then a year at Zhejiang university and one year master studies. So hyped.

[@boredomramsay]

This is the precise information I was looking for, thank you.

[@saradiaz6179]

I’m in my late 60s and want to learn Chinese( to save face). I’m 5th generation Cuban Chinese and only know a few words in Chinese.

[@littledragon09-16]

I will definitely stay tuned with your upcoming video for chinese tutorial. I had a crash course before for basic mandarin and it didn't went well. Mainly because i have no one to practice speaking mandarin and I was too engrossed with kdrama. So i find it difficult to learn chinese while watching kdramas. This time, im watching more chinese drama so i think i can re-learn mandarin. Thank u for inspiring me @avenuex!

[@gordafea1839]

Please make more videos on chinese history and chinese mythology.

[@roxelaneelmira4678]

I totally agree with all of your arguments, as I already thought them all... :P I'm in my 40s and currently learning Chinese with my teenage daughter as a 3rd language. I remember when I 1st started to learn English (I mean, other than what we learn at school and that was just enough to pass exams but not to really communicate...) and came to understand that my thought process was different, and I was fascinated how the culture of a specific language influence the structure of that language and vice-versa! So even though I'm far from fluent in Chinese yet, I'm also fascinated by its structure and how it'll eventually influence my way of thinking, my perspective as you say! If you happen to see this comment and you still think of adding to your playlist of Chinese lessons, I'd like to learn more about the caligraphy and the origin of various characters. I stumbled upon a wikipedia article explaining the meaning behind the name of China 中国 and it was fascinating for me! Also, when I learn new characters and I notice that part of it is the same as in another one, I'm so excited to understand the idea behind it. And the same when I look the meaning of the individual characters of a word made up of multiple ones, it's a delight! So if you'd be willing to go in that direction, I'd love it! (I'm learning with duolingo btw, and I'm not even halfway and yet I'm starting to recognize many basic sentences in dramas and shows I'm watching, and it's so thrilling!) So 谢谢你 for your channel, and keep going!

[@KuroiHato69]

If I was 13 years old in today's world Chinese would be the language I would learn. I completely agree with your points. I am trying to tell my nephew to start his children (ages 3 and 6) that Chinese and Korean will give them an advantage in the future. Sad that in most American schools the only second language options are Spanish and French.

[@ShredST]

It's kind of funny that you have this light-hearted music playing in the background as you're prophesying the decline of the West.

[@kjohnson1635]

I am learning going on about 1.5 years, it is difficult but it's worth it, just hard finding someone to practice with.

[@mr559]

I took a Armenian literature class in university and then the following semester the Armenian alphabet and grammer. I agree that literature is a great way of understanding the overall mindset of how a certain culture thinks and views of the world. I'm hoping to learn Mandarin and Japanese. Spanish is also a big one since I'm from California.

[@laurakelly631]

I really appreciate your videos. Thank you! I'm learning Mandarin Chinese now for all the reasons you delineate here. I love your drama reviews also. Just one suggestion...I find the particular background music on this video to be distracting for some reason.

[@noelksor6486]

i wanted to learn Chinese because most Chinese drama doesn't have English Subtitles. Im so mad that they have no english sub. Japanese and Kdrama has a lot of English Sub. :/ Someday I am goingto watch Chinese without English Sub!!

[@brattingprincess]

elleon Rosk Korean people who are fans of Kdrama want everyone else to enjoy Kdrama so as a labor of love, we do it. Cdrama is much harder to source :(

[@TaeKookie777]

I should really thank chinese dramas!! thanks to them I can understand chinese, even though I'm not good at it but at least I can understand the main things..:)) (LOL I'M 18)

[@yanamorim5747]

onna bts help me

[@yanamorim5747]

Which one do you think is worthy?

[@saraishinkai15]

Im from Nagaland , currently in Delhi .

[@saraishinkai15]

Yan Amorim .Try "advisor alliance " its a political drama from the three kingdoms period .

[@TaeKookie777]

sarai shin Kai thanks, but I don't really like that drama!!

[@anonymousperson4363]

In my past, I thought Japanese would be good, but now that I am older I have discovered what you touched on. There seems to be many good movies and dramas, old and new, that exist, ie The Drunken Master and The Eternal Love. However, the problem with chinese is that there are many dialects or do most of of the movies and dramas use mainly one dialect? Another reason I have for learning chinese is the love of the music. Learning Chinese would help getting some lessons of these instruments. I subscribed to your channel for your guqin videos. Can we get more?

[@selvilok850]

Just watched this video and I couldn't agree more. I'm really interested in learning chinese language n literature but seing how difficult it is to write the letters, I'm stuck! However, really thank you for the video, and I'll try to find out how to learn chinese effectively to overcome that fear of chinese writtings. :D

[@qingxia4197]

Great job to introduce Chinese culture to the world and great new hairstyle.

[@AvenueX123]

lol, I didn't change my hair

[@Sillaacs03]

I agree with u !! Learning a different language is always great !! I wish to visit china next yr so I want to at least know the basic And hopefully become fluent but I worried about learn the writing.

[@AvenueX123]

There's scientific proof if you learn new languages your brain grow in physical sizes, that's really cool, and chinese probably make you grow more because writing is so hard.

[@Sillaacs03]

AvenueX I agree I already speak 4 so add more while not hurt! Yes writing will take a while to remember but I'm up for it ! Wish they had a school here.

[@bscottc1]

Concerning your 3rd reason that contrast and compares the gap created by translation of classical Chinese poetry to English, I think it's interesting that philology tells us that there is the same gap between ancient (even the not too distant past) or classical Chinese and Putonghua, particularly the spoken language. Sure you can assign phonemes from a southern Chinese language (which contains the remnants of forms and sounds of ancient Chinese much more so than Mandarin) (notice also I did not use the word "dialect") to modern Hanzi, but a modern Chinese person is probably not a whole heck of a lot closer to getting the lilt of Li Po than a modern English speaker. I think that's pretty interesting and one of the many reasons I enjoy studying Chinese language, literature and history. Cheers!🤓

[@Nanoubonbon]

Please do!

[@eggla_]

I am currently learning Chinese in school and I think that somehow explaining the Chinese sentence structure would be helpful. Sentences with the most simple structures like just the subject and verb to ones that have multiple parts in them.

[@AvenueX123]

good idea, I think chinese and english 's sentence structure is fairly similar, compare to say english and Korean or japanese

[@fannyfrey4371]

How about focusing the teaching more into vocabulary? Maybe some commonly used vocabulary we often heard in dramas or used in daily conversation. I once took a private course on Chinese language for quite some time back then when I was in junior high school, the course did give me the basics, but those lessons on writing, reading, speaking, and listening, they have been eventually forgotten because I don't really use them outside the course session, except of course, while watching Chinese drama, so in terms of listening and speaking, I do still have some skills and now come to think about it, the Chinese words that I understand and can use in a conversation right now are mostly from my self learning by watching Chinese drama with subtitle :D I think learning sth that relatively 'closer' to our daily life, (in this case, daily life is me watching drama in my spare time), the higher is the probability of the lesson to stick longer. Just like the other day, when you told us the meaning of "Lao Niang" from Eternal Love, I encountered those words again in a variety show that I was watching several days ago and it was like as if I had a moment of enlightenment. hahaha xD Ah and perhaps you can make a series of video to give us some understanding on Chinese character strokes, like for example for the characters that have something to do with 'water', then they will have that 'water' element stroke in that character. I find that very interesting and fun to know. :)

[@DesOkun]

In high school I took Spanish and then in college I took French and Japanese. I have learned a tiny bit of Chinese and Korean from watching dramas/movies. I have always been interested in linguistics, but sadly that is not something I use in my career much. I like to learn about many things from all over the world and language is part of that.

[@vikymonkey]

I really want to learn chinese

[@yourikosan2897]

Mmm I would like to but I'm not certain that my brain can take a other language with 4 already I find it difficult but I still love Chinese drama❤ and your videos❤

[@kotwasabi5511]

I woul LOVE to see your chinese lessons!!!

[@FrozenPureRose]

AvenueX may I ask what you opinion on riddles given during lantern festivals are like?

[@AvenueX123]

Those are fun, you do need to know the language and culture very well to be able to play the game

[@longxiwind317]

I'm about 3 yrs late but Chinese is the second largest ethnicity in my country so that alone has it make sense, and I started this month.

[@Carolina-hp6gj]

Love your Channel! Xoxo demo Brazil

[@lhu0972]

My dad always said your second reason as to why to learn chinese. I grew up in the US learning english at school and cantonese at home. My dad also had a lot of friends with different dialects, so i can somehow understand many chinese dialects. Now im into cdramas and im learning a lot more mandarin than in my chinese school because i have motivation. Ive also been thinking, when i say, write, read in chinese, i would have to link the chinese character to the english definition, so how do native chinese people think about what to say. Like for example, a very simple example, 这只猫很胖, which means this cat is very chubby. What do native speakers define 这 as, which means "this" in english. Like i have to very quickly kind of translate it and ill know what it means, but what do natuve speakers think. (Also i just started watching your videos and im 13)

[@mrsfutureproblems7963]

6:35 17 years here!!

[@sokhasen8146]

Teach us conversational phases from different dramas.

[@NicoleTaynicoletay]

Can you do more of indepth translation on poetry on the tv shows. PLEASE!!! I watch them (i understand mandarin) and often don't understand the poetry.

[@melodyleong]

I know this is an old video, but is there any classics that you recommend to kind-of beginners? I can speak/read/write mandarin, but I feel a lot of cultural references fly over my head and I end up confused after the first chapter or so.

[@kateli1880]

Where and how does an adult learn Chinese? I've seen schools or teachers for children in my area only.

[@zahralovesdekuandyuuji7512]

😳 I'm learning it but I'm not advancing because I'm a procrastinator lazy who have a weak memory

[@niervanae3571]

I've been wondering where I can learn the Chinese language? What are the best options out there? And what are available online? There's so many resources, some of them are free while some are paid. For someone who doesn't even know how to speak or write, is there a particular website, tool, or school that you suggest we take a look at / enroll in / pay for? Thaanks

[@wollevy2328]

Easy to understand why I have loved you for 7 years!

[@mel7132]

can you find the ancient Chinese poetry in pinyin?

[@realMoMoPuFF]

I've learned English by myself, I learn German now, but for some reason, I don't know how should I start with Chinese. And the characters really freak me out.

[@cxchen6322]

手动点赞，您的分享非常棒。 谢谢您制作这些很棒的视频。非常赞同也很欣赏您的分享，如你所说，汉语诗词等文学作品的美，真的需要懂得汉语的前提下才能更好的”悦”读。Two thumbs up to your wonderful sharing.

[@rosebud4387]

Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas.

[@jovang3882]

I agree completely in all your reasons! I didn't know much about literatures but I knew that Chinese is very artistic about their poetries. I mean just see how they argue in the Chinese dramas???! Lol

[@AvenueX123]

lol, Nothing Gold can Stay had an epic scene of Zhao Baishi refusing Wu Yi's hint of interest in him, that is all built on poetry and classics that is just GOLD to watch, I might make a video about that one day.

[@jovang3882]

AvenueX please do! although I've never seen the drama but I'd love to hear you explain and dissect poetries from shows.

[@jovang3882]

AvenueX and is there that scene in sub English?? What episode was that scene in?

[@sunnyp369]

TMOPB motivated me to sign up and learn Chinese, currently on level 1 and will further onto level 2 .. until maybe it gets too much to handle haha.

[@AvenueX123]

I think there's a "threshold" thing for any language, and it's usually painful at a point where you want to give up, but if you get through it then suddenly everything becomes easy, at least that's what I felt with English

[@sunnyp369]

Hello :) Thank you for the reply. I'm finding difficulties in pronouncing a lot of them but it just mean practice makes perfect (or watch more C-series) lol. Especially when it sounds similar but have totally different meaning. >_< I learned English when I was young so I didn't feel any difficulties, plus living in an English speaking country made it easy. But my third language was German, that I learned at mature age and I felt a lot of stress, sort of stopped after level 2. T__T But one day I'll go back to it. Just into Chinese now, fingers cross I'll get to at least level 5! :o

[@asiananifacts]

Hello? I had been watching chinese drama in a very long time. I love watching historical chinese drama and I notice that whenever I watched I it I always encounter that they always talk about the Emperor bestowing marriage for his relatives to a certain person or someone not related to him by blood but close allied to him. And if the person being bestow with marriage did not accept it. It will be punishable by death. Can you please make a videos explaining this bestowing activities in chinese historical drama.

[@AvenueX123]

it's just whatever the emperor says has to be followed, whether it's marriage or any other things, so if you don't want to follow, well, you die...

[@kelly8358]

do you do a voice over for your videos?

[@AvenueX123]

those TMOPB videos are mostly voice over ones

[@lalomn74]

Hi everybody ! Whatever hegemonic fate China would face in the future decades , I prefer love as the main motive .... Can we just agree on the fact that zhõng wèn is a lovely language despite (or because of) his hardness ! But please, Shefū, considere how difficult this language is ! Anything that may help I'm taking ! As for Mandarin =next universal language I'm quite sure it won't be : my prognosis is that english thanks to is easyness will remain as a basis for international talking and exchange, even if a lot of foreign word and expression (already french, spanish italian ones can be found) will be integrated. By the way have got some news on Nirvana in Fire II ? I saw the first trailer on YT today .....

[@AvenueX123]

I don't think it's going to become the next english, but chinese did once have a great international influence in history and as difficult as it is, it's just a language which is not rocket science. I'm guessing in 2 decades it will become much more prominent, but not as what English is right now. And I did see NIFII trailer, can't wait, I feel it's going to be a totally different one but nonetheless interesting.

[@joeysu7591]

Hi Avenuex! 😁 Speaking of Chinese Poetry, can you give us at least Top 5/¹0? Chinese Poetry that you love. And if you can read it to us while giving us your thoughts about the poetry itself. 谢谢！ 🙇😁💕

[@CeceliaS69]

I do think Chinese would be fun to learn but as of right now I'm trying to maintain my 4 years of Japanese (which is a blur now) and have to learn Korean. And I already know two more languages so I'll have to sit tight for a while. Maybe later when I have time I'll try to self-study Chinese. I really suck at Chinese characters though lol sighhhh I'll probably just learn conversational Chinese if need to.

[@AvenueX123]

Japanese and Korean! So cool, I find their grammar so hard and confusing! The thing with korean is a LOT of their vocab comes from Chinese so if you already know Korean well, you will see a lot of idioms in Chinese pronounced similar meaning the same thing

[@heloneidaheloneida]

One of the reasons why I would like to speak Mandarin is because I really like Chinese series, but it is very difficult, my first language is Portuguese and my second is English and I would love to speak Mandarin but it is almost impossible for me to speak or understand this language. I think.

[@colonyofcells]

It takes many years to learn mandarin. Probably easier to just obtain the chinese text of an episode and run it thru a free online translation website. I am chinese (one of the fujian dialects is my first language) and I have difficulty with the 3 sets of sounds which sound alike : 1) j, q, x. 2) tongue curled upward zh, ch, sh. 3) using the tip of the tongue z, c, s. In Taiwan (and maybe south china) they do not even do the tongue curled upward too much so all 3 sets of sounds seem similar. Spoken chinese is easier to learn. Written chinese is very difficult bec there is no alphabet and each character has to be memorized and there are about 2,000 characters in common use. Trying to memorize 2,000 characters is probably just a waste of precious brain cells which can be used elsewhere. I am pretty sure learning to read and write characters is just a waste of time and brain cells (altho probably ok to learn how to speak and listen to chinese). I attended 12 years of chinese afternoon classes and I really hated memorizing characters so I did not learn much. Taiwan and Hong Kong are still using the non simplified characters which have more strokes than the simplified characters used in China. The phonetic alphabet can be used to write chinese but many words will look the same (including the 4 tone symbols in writing helps a bit : level - , down \ , up / , down up \/ ). Including the tones, I can write the name Chu\/ (suffering) Qiao/ (tall). It can also be hard to distinguish the 2 tones \/ and / and the meaning of characters depends on the tone.

[@annaj9733]

ohhh u came to the uk for uni~~ yeee uk represent ^_^

[@AvenueX123]

yes, back in the days when woolworth still existed

[@annaj9733]

@@AvenueX123 wow woolworth that's such a throw back 😂 by chance did you go to bristol uni 👀

[@eneidabelmonte176]

Italian Spanish portugués and French

[@AvenueX123]

I've attempted French before and epic failure, lol

[@ryangeorge9669]

这个频道真有意思。

[@codegame2815]

I'm learning English at the moment, because it is damn useful these days and it is the international language it is the language that is used most in technology... But Chinese is also so cool, and I believe in the power of Chinese and China. But you guys just ... oh man, I mean why? Why your language is so hard? Four tunes?? Are you kidding ? Cantonese even has five tunes. And when a bunch of Chinese words mixed together, it just like the end of the world. I just can hear the word "Wo". Anyway, Chinese is so funny and useful, too. I just started to learn it, and I hope I will not be drowned during this journey. If I reach this goal, then it mean I can do almost anything in my life...

[@mv6303]

Hahah, your right. I also start learning it but when I discovered it has 2k just only for character so I decided to change to hangul who only has 20+ character.

[@jingkunzhu7607]

I like your content and admire you for doing what you are doing here. Your pronunciation sounds a bit British, however the pronunciation of two words sticks out to me, as I learned to pronounce them the same way before moving from China to America. Idea, should sound like I-Dia, not I-Deer and Order should sound like Or-Der, rather than O-Der, which is another word that means bad smell.

[@ErtixPoke]

Not better to learn japanese?

[@ahotsfashion]

Omg, is it destiny or something?!?? lol. Iam a historical fictions lover & I already decided to learn Chinese because it seems so complex to me & iam fascinated by other cultural povs. Iam always up for challenges. Thank you for making this insightful video.

[@momotwci3621]

that is too difficult.

[@foonlam7134]

I would like to know how we can start learning Chinese. For myself, although I am Chinese and can speak Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese and some Mandarin, I grew up going to English schools so I never really learnt how to read and write Chinese. Now I really regret not having learnt that language and would dearly love to learn how to read and write Chinese. I actually learnt my Mandarin from watching Chinese movies as a child but that is just oral. I don't have any writing or reading skills. Please do recommend some steps that I can take to learn to read and write Chinese.

[@Alona86]

Teach using Chinese dramas

[@atthismoment3006]

for teaching the language Something to do with theses dramas: many of the jokes we Never understand because the translation is weird! it just goes over our heads

[@vivealexcheng]

Have you checked out the new trailer of Nirvana in Fire? kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2Ssi4ODZpmprrc

[@jameslian995]

Haha, I really thought you were gonna say you need to learn Chinese because of all the entertainments produced in that language.

[@atthismoment3006]

Chinese is so HARD! to me its just so far away from English

[@izzyferrer8366]

Learn Chinese is harder than I thought.

[@rosebud4387]

Have you read yourself or heard read by Richard Burton , 'UNDER MILKWOOD"? This is BEYOND English! As is much Irish , Welsh poetry .Not English.

[@nevertold6706]

想跟你学中文是真的！姐姐开中文课吧，教唐诗宋词，什么都好呀！

[@bcskqc]

Calligraphy is a highly, if not the most, elevated Chinese art form in my opinion, knowing the language helps. Also learn the traditional font (as opposed to the simplified font) of writing I say. Poems rhymes even better if recited in Cantonese pronunciation, a tonally rich dialect that preserves more ancient characteristics of the language.

[@invinciblecucumber]

I don't even read poetry on my mother tongue, so that's definitely not a good reason for me to start learning chinese.😄

[@JWEthan]

I adore China, Chinese culture (both traditional and modern), and Mandarin. But, sorry, Mandarin will never become a global language like English or, to a lesser extent, Western European languages. As far as it being the will of history, fate, etc. that China will rise to become the new dominant super-power. This is not going to happen anytime soon either; China has too many structural, political and societal problems. An economic/political collapse is more likely. But after that? Who knows. Perhaps whatever replaces the current massively flawed and unstable (in the medium to long term) systems will allow China to become a truly successful country, but that's not going to happen during my lifetime or the lifetimes of my children. Still, China is my favourite country - and some of the most decent people whom I know are Chinese.

[@xihangyang]

why are modern chinese poetry so long? unlike ancient poetry like tang poetry so short.

[@AvenueX123]

I know... I wouldn't consider modern poetry on par with ancient, it's more like a form of free expression that got born out of historical circumstances (modern poetry), it's a different animal than ancient poetry

[@xihangyang]

can you do a video explaining the poetry and idiom behind it. Feeling very frustrating when watching some serie where a poem and idiom is part of the plot. making me not understanding the serie at all.

[@weixing3094]

I do not totally agree with your second point. People need a common language to communicate, and now it is English. To achieve this goal, despite the power of language patron, people would rather pick a easy to learn and similar language. This preference is opposite to your first point of expanding your view of the world. Considering this, English is a much better choice for non-Chinese. And in science, English is still more advance than Chinese, this is a more important reason for why I think English will still dominate.

[@saraishinkai15]

Im learning , my reason for learning is China is gonna be a superpower .

[@saraishinkai15]

.Btw you look like Meg from Family guy

[@AvenueX123]

lol, really?

[@saraishinkai15]

AvenueX . yes but you are better