There appears to be a consensus that Mandarin Chinese is among the most difficult languages to learn. This is mainly for foreigners and English speakers.
Several research studies, linguists, and expert opinions back this theory. This can be daunting for new learners interested in starting a rewarding journey of learning Chinese.
But isn’t studying a new language always a complex, challenging process? As with any other language, Chinese has its own challenges.
What is so special about Chinese that learning is notoriously hard and tricky?
Are there any truths behind this myth, misconception, mental block, or long-standing and well-known fact? How tough or easy may it be?
Let’s explore everything about it.
Table of Contents
- Why learn Mandarin Chinese, given its difficulty?
- Things to consider before diving into Chinese
- What makes studying Chinese so difficult?
- The Final Words
Why learn Mandarin Chinese, given its difficulty?
Are you considering learning Chinese?
Maybe you’ve become fascinated by China’s economy and pursued the language to advance your career.
Perhaps the appeal of dramas has sparked your interest in the Chinese language. You may have picked up some lyrics from the catchy C-pop songs and are interested in more.
If the Chinese intrigue you for whatever reason, you are not alone. It is beneficial to learn Mandarin for many good reasons.
China’s economy and culture are gaining momentum globally. As a result, Mandarin is in high demand and increasingly popular to learn.
You will also become more familiar with everything Chinese if you learn the Chinese language!
Studying Mandarin increases your chances of getting scholarships to study in China and Taiwan.
Chinese is the most widely spoken native language globally if your goal is China or Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Taiwan. Or if you wish to study, work, or visit the country as a tourist?
In all these scenarios, Mandarin can be a valuable skill.
It opens up a wide range of career options after learning Chinese. Additionally, it can help you transition to a new role in another field if you are unhappy with your current role.
Isn’t that enough motivation and benefit to explore the exciting world of the Chinese language? Let’s move on!
Things to consider before diving into Chinese
Before you jump into the Chinese language, there are a few things you should research.
The best way to plan for the language is to consider your long-term goals before making any plans.
Would you like to learn Chinese to watch TV series and listen to music without subtitles? You also aim to watch films that might interest you.
Would you like to increase your employment prospects by learning Chinese?
Do you desire to converse in Chinese as fluently as a native speaker?
Your answers to these questions will determine your challenge in learning a new language.
In a few days, you can learn some essential words that will allow you to speak phrases and sentences within a few weeks!
It may take years of study to reach advanced proficiency in Mandarin and become a translator or interpreter. You can also enjoy yourself and learn Mandarin by watching movies and C-dramas without subtitles.
The difficulty of learning Chinese depends on many other factors. For instance, your mother tongue, your level of inspiration, and your techniques will influence your learning process.
Because of this, there is no conclusive answer to the question, “Is Chinese a difficult language to learn?”
How long does it take to learn?
Language learning can take a long time, despite many sources stating that a specific period is required. To be perfectly candid requires a lifelong commitment.
Mastering a new language doesn’t happen overnight.
Language is constantly changing, which makes it beautiful. Over time, some words become obsolete while we add others to a language.
Also, technical jargon, dialects, variation, and your precise goal require undivided attention.
How you learn a language depends on your personal possibilities. Your approach to the language, engagement, and exposure is all part of this. You must also have a passion, love, and motivation to do so.
Likewise, the degree to which your native language resembles your target language.
It is beneficial if you already know Korean and Japanese, but only to a limited extent, given their geographic proximity and shared historical origins.
These are actually three different languages. Mandarin is unique and distinct from Japanese, Korean, and other East Asian languages.
Suppose English or a European language is your first language or native tongue. The similarities are almost nil, so you may need to work harder than others.
How does it differ from other languages?
The only contemporary language without an alphabet is Mandarin Chinese.
It is a “logosyllabic” writing system, meaning each character represents a syllable of Mandarin Chinese. A character may form a word by itself or with other characters.
The radicals that make up a character can suggest how to pronounce it or what it could represent. But they aren’t prescriptive.
Unlike a word in an alphabetic language, a Mandarin Chinese character requires rote memorization to grasp what it represents and how it is pronounced.
This is also why written Mandarin Chinese does not have an alphabet. It can get away without spaces between words. Because each character is self-contained, no spaces are required to show where a word starts and finishes.
Chinese words might comprise one or more characters. Someone reading a phrase for the first time would not understand which characters were single words and which words formed many characters.
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. Still, Mandarin Chinese takes it to a new level.
In this language, there are only about 400 non-tonal syllables. Yet, there are around 1,400 syllables when tonal variances are considered.
English, for example, has about 15,000 distinct syllables. Simply said, there are a lot of words in Mandarin Chinese that sound the same.
This can make learning Mandarin more challenging than most other languages. Plus, spoken words are more difficult to separate from one another. Understanding how to communicate with the Chinese may take longer and require more effort.
Context is crucial for listening to and understanding Chinese, just as it is for reading Mandarin. For example, you might see two individuals speaking this language on the street.
Despite years of learning the language, you can’t figure out what they’re saying.
Homophones also underline the significance of paying attention to tones, even when you’re just starting.
You may cut the number of homophones by four by learning to recognize tonal patterns. This will significantly improve your ability to distinguish words and enhance your comprehension of spoken Mandarin Chinese.
Is Mandarin harder to learn than other languages?
Many people are puzzled by the same issue. So, before exploring the language profoundly, it’s natural to wonder if Chinese is one of the most complex languages to learn.
Knowing the extent of the learning curve before beginning the process is crucial. It also helps you learn a language successfully.
If you have a basic understanding of Chinese, you will immensely enjoy watching mainland Chinese dramas. You may listen to the same song repeatedly.
Let’s ask again: Is Mandarin a complex language to learn?
There is some degree of difficulty in all languages. Yet, Chinese is widely perceived as a tough language.
Who says Mandarin Chinese is complex?
The US-based FSI research has consistently found that Chinese is in category IV for native English speakers.
They classify it as a “super-hard language.” Other languages include Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
Thus, to achieve higher TOCFL levels or HSK scores, 88 weeks, or approximately 2,200 hours of study, are required.
The suggested 1:1 self-study would require approximately 4,400 hours to reach the advanced level.
Even though Mandarin isn’t impossible to learn, it’s not a piece of cake either. To sum up, it is difficult but doable.
If I had to sum up the difficulty of Chinese, I would say it is not a language to take lightly. You cannot expect to achieve meaningful results without investing sufficient time and effort.
What makes studying Chinese so difficult?
The most common mistake people make is to commit to a language before they are familiar with it. This includes fundamentals and intricate details.
By understanding these things, learners can rationalize what they find difficult. Of course, there are a few things that everyone struggles with.
The difficulty of learning Chinese arises from many factors.
Aside from its markedly different grammar, its vocabulary is also highly foreign. Furthermore, its conjugation includes honorifics and subtleties, which can make it more confusing.
The process of grasping all this takes time, effort, and patience.
This article explains the concepts that make understanding Chinese difficult for new learners. Let’s examine these points more closely.
1. The Unique Chinese Characters
Knowing the alphabet and characters of any language is the foremost step.
Learning a new language can be difficult if the alphabet differs entirely from that of your mother tongue. This applies explicitly to learners whose native language follows a different script.
All Chinese characters comprise a variety of elements known as radicals. The combination of these 214 radicals yields thousands of Hànzì (汉字), the Chinese character set used for writing Chinese.
A challenging aspect of learning this language is understanding how to read and write Chinese characters. This is because it uses “logograms,” which are single characters that can represent entire words.
This writing method differs immensely from English and nearly all Western languages. They all look convoluted, distinct, mysterious, yet age-old, captivating, and unique.
There are thousands of simplified characters. If we include the traditional ones used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and even parts of mainland China, the total would easily exceed 50,000 characters.
But it’s not as bad and unsettling as you might think. You only need 6,000 to 8,000 simplified Chinese characters for most purposes. You can even read a newspaper for only 2-3,000. The same is also required to achieve a lower advanced level.
Korean and Japanese characters appear to have much in common with the pictographic script of Chinese Hànzì.
But linguistically, all three are distinct. Of course, some similarities exist because the Korean and Japanese languages used Chinese characters historically. But over time, they developed their own, with different pronunciations.
Despite being tricky, things will become easier once you recognize these symbols and patterns.
Hànzì is logical and straightforward to grasp. Yet its writing style and appearance make it difficult to navigate. This typically happens beyond the initial hurdle.
The intricate writing style of the Chinese
Calligraphy is one of the oldest forms of abstract art based on lines. We can write Chinese characters using the five topmost styles of calligraphy. It is closely tied to the history of Chinese script.
This includes seal, clerical, cursive, semi-cursive, and regular script. In addition, there are also Japanese Edomoji, Korean Munjado, and ancient Huaya.
The writing style using a brush, ink, paper, and ink stone is an entirely new concept. Pinyin is also available to non-native users for simplification. Mainland China uses this Romanization system for Standard Mandarin.
Like English, we read and write Hànzì from left to right and top to bottom. So, getting up to speed with reading and writing Hànzì is educating oneself through daily practice.
2. Many languages, varieties, dialects, and accents
Do you speak Chinese? Which one? Do you know there are wide varieties of Chinese, and they come in many forms?
That’s right. Mainland China is vast in terms of area, population, ethnic groups, and history.
It is highly diverse, with every region having its own dialects and languages, and the number of regional linguistic differences is staggering.
As a learner, you will find many types and variants. Wu and Yue, Jin, Xiang, Huizhou, and Pinghua are examples.
Some are just dialects, but most are not mutually intelligible and are separate languages.
The Chinese government made Standard Chinese, or Putonghua (普通话), mainland China’s official national language. Almost two-thirds of the population speaks it.
Still, hundreds of regional languages, accents, dialects, and varieties exist. This makes Chinese more complex than it already is.
The complexity is not just in books or speakers. There is a wide variety, even if you listen to music or podcasts and watch dramas, TV series, or movies to learn Chinese.
3. The tones and tricky pronunciations
Let’s face it. Most learners struggle to pronounce Chinese. For English or non-Chinese speakers, you will hear many different sounds.
Chinese is a tonal language. As a result, it adds an extra layer of difficulty. There are five distinct tones, including the neutral one. This makes learning Chinese a daunting task for most learners.
Tonal languages can be challenging for those unfamiliar with them. This is also why most people find it the most difficult part of the Chinese language.
A slight variation of sound can cause different meanings or contexts.
For example, sometimes syllables with the same initial and final are pronounced differently. Likewise, the meaning varies depending on which tone we use for the vowels.
Initially, it will be challenging because you do not know all the sounds and combinations. You will make mistakes initially, even when you speak reasonably well. But after a while, you will get used to it.
You will communicate better and make fewer errors. You require years of study, the correct approach, and consistent practice to reach that level. And in the end, you can surely clear higher levels of HSK.
4. Chinese is a hierarchical language
There is an honorific system in Chinese. As a result, words, sentences, forms, and tones change accordingly. Speakers also recognize their social relationships with their listeners.
Your choice of pronouns depends on how close you are to the person you speak to.
Speech level and formality determine word and sentence choice. For instance, in Chinese culture, it is essential to use the correct pronouns when addressing a higher-ranking or more prominent person.
You should avoid using inappropriate pronouns when addressing someone in a formal conversation. Language hierarchy is a tool for self-deprecation through humble markers.
There is an honorific system for those of higher status.
Using different words, such as honorifics, can convey greater respect. Also, suffixing or prefixing a word with polite praise or dropping casual-sounding words can be effective.
Consider bringing up your mother casually with a friend, for example. Honorific infixes show her respect even when she’s not physically present.
The Chinese language’s vocabulary can be divided into casual, formal, and literary categories. For example, the term for “to fly” in Chinese is 飞 (casual), 飞行 (formal), and 飞翔 (scholarly).
Even intermediate students struggle to apply these rules. Learning Mandarin from scratch is one of the most challenging phases of the process.
Learning Chinese requires a working knowledge of Chinese culture, even at advanced levels. It includes manners, etiquette, and cultural faux pas. This is to avoid mistakes when addressing various Chinese people.
A few easy aspects of the language
Chinese contains a few grammatical patterns, most of which are simple.
The Chinese language lacks tenses. Like English verbs, Chinese words do not change forms or conjugate. This is something for which Chinese students should be grateful.
Additional help with the script comes through technology. The traditional system for Romanizing Chinese characters is known as Pinyin. The benefit is that you can input it into your computer and suggest characters.
You can text or send emails without memorizing each character’s stroke. Instead, you can type in Chinese if you know the Pinyin and recognize the character you’re looking for.
The popular belief that learning Chinese entails memorizing three to four thousand utterly unrelated characters makes the language appear entirely unattainable.
Luckily, this belief is unfounded. Knowing one character leads to discovering a slew of other logically connected characters.
For example, let’s take the character for electricity 电 (diàn) and the character for car 车 (chē).
You’re having trouble saying “tram.” When you search the Chinese term for a tram in your online dictionary, you’ll see it’s straightforward. Just combine electricity 电 (Diàn) with car 车 (Chē) to get an electric car, 电车 (diànchē), or what one would call a Tram.
The beauty of the matter is that Chinese people have deep roots in their culture and a strong sense of pride.
Is it worth learning despite the difficulty?
In a word, yes!
Unfortunately, the number of foreigners learning Mandarin Chinese is relatively low. This is because of the perception that it is an arduous task, which it probably is.
This makes you a rare case, according to the Chinese people. So, they give you the credit you deserve in return for your attempt to learn even a few basic phrases and simple words.
Suppose you say a few simple pleasantries in Chinese before entering a restaurant or a store. Then, they will always greet you with a surprise. This is a slightly perplexed expression that quickly gives way to a warm smile.
There are many benefits to learning Chinese. The list is endless: careers, business, travel, scholarships for higher education in China, and hobbies.
Given China’s rich and legendary culture, learning Chinese opens up a new world of novels, poetry, television, cinema, short stories, and music.
Making friends in China is simple when you speak Chinese because conversing with friends is one of the most acceptable methods of learning Chinese.
You may believe that learning Chinese is impossible, but as mentioned before, this is not the case. Mastery takes a long time, just like many other jobs.
We’re talking about a lifelong commitment and the circumstances that enable you to study the language. Or use it to socialize if you want to approach the level of an educated native speaker.
You can get help from a teacher or use some good Chinese learning apps. Then, you can learn the language with the correct motivation and support.
Depending on your passion, you can even go the extra mile and achieve absolute fluency. Don’t allow the apparent difficulties to discourage you from pursuing your goal of becoming a Mandarin Chinese speaker.
The Final Words
Chinese is difficult to learn. But although English speakers might consider it one of the most demanding languages to learn, it isn’t impossible!
If you enjoy the process, don’t worry about taking the “hours” to learn Mandarin.
There is always an element of intimidation when starting something new. And language study is no exception. It is no secret that learning a language requires significant time and effort.
It isn’t a massive task, but it requires consistency and dedication. Speaking a foreign language has its advantages and its drawbacks. Yet, your efforts will be rewarded. You will feel a sense of accomplishment.
It is all about building a solid foundation early on and having patience when learning a new language. This becomes easier with the right attitude and approach.
Like any other language, Chinese has its own benefits and disadvantages.
You can do it if you take steps, put in the effort, and give it time. It is almost certain that your journey to learning Chinese will soon become enthralling. Then, the effort will be totally worth it.
A Chinese proverb perfectly describes the experience of learning Chinese. I will end by quoting it.
“万事开头难。
“The first step is the hardest.”
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to share your thoughts or questions in the comments.
