https://www.reddit.com/r/learnchinese/comments/1flxcov/do_you_think_chinese_is_difficult_to_learn/
created by rykerpro on 21/09/2024 at 07:11 UTC
15 upvotes, 18 top-level comments (showing 18)
If breathing is at level 1 difficulty and making rockets is at level 10 difficulty, how difficult do you think it is to learn Chinese?
Comment by TheAutisticSlavicBoy at 21/09/2024 at 07:31 UTC
6 upvotes, 2 direct replies
What languages do you speak?
Comment by MandarininMinutes at 21/09/2024 at 10:02 UTC
10 upvotes, 2 direct replies
As a native speaker and Chinese language teacher in Australia for 10 years, I can offer some insight into this question. While Chinese certainly presents unique challenges, I believe its difficulty is often overstated.
In my experience, learning Chinese for my students is indeed challenging and requires significant time and dedication, but this is true for mastering any language, including English. The perception of difficulty often comes from how different Chinese is from European languages, rather than inherent complexity.
Some aspects of Chinese, like grammar structure, can be way simpler than English. For instance, Chinese doesn't use tenses in the same way, and there's no conjugation of verbs. However, the tonal system and character-based writing do present unique challenges for many learners.
Considering your scale, where 1 is as easy as breathing and 10 is as difficult as making rockets, I would rate learning Chinese at about a 5/10. This middle ground reflects that while Chinese has its challenges, it's far from insurmountable. With consistent practice and the right approach, most learners can make steady progress.
It's worth noting that difficulty can vary greatly depending on a learner's background, motivation, and learning methods. Some may find it easier, others harder. The key is persistent effort and effective study strategies.
Comment by si_wo at 21/09/2024 at 08:30 UTC
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It's considered one of the hardest languages for English speakers. I think it's pretty hard.
Comment by FordF150BLACK at 22/09/2024 at 22:06 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Pinyin is easy, Listening is a little more difficult. Once you understand the basics of Chinese its super simple. The writing is hard. I find Spanish to be more difficult than Chinese
Comment by Chaostudee at 21/09/2024 at 08:27 UTC*
5 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Not so much , I think it's a 5/10 . But since I learned Arabic that's why i consider Chinese easy
Comment by WeeZoo87 at 21/09/2024 at 11:57 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I took lessons. Was fun and games with pin yin. Then reading and writing hits, and i gave up 5 years ago.
Comment by ReloopGD at 21/09/2024 at 15:22 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
for someone whos first language is spanish,The chinese pronuntiation isnt so hard for me,apart of the letters z, zh (prob), j, q and hard for me to distinguish x from s
Still a beginner tho
Comment by huajiaoyou at 21/09/2024 at 15:50 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Hard? Not really. Grammar is pretty straightforward, characters aren't difficult once you understand the meaning and sound components. Even tones aren't that hard with enough practice (how easy was it to memorize the tones for 你好?).
But it is a protracted process and requires significant time, so I would give it a seven.
Comment by Ok-Serve415 at 21/09/2024 at 19:44 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Super easy
Comment by Equivalent-Wind64 at 21/09/2024 at 22:53 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
太难了
Comment by randomletterslolxd at 22/09/2024 at 04:17 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
since the languages i speak are not tonal, it’s still difficult for me to speak tonally but i would say overall not too crazy!
Comment by whhw311 at 22/09/2024 at 18:53 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Arabic is my native language and i speak English fluently, can someone point me to the right direction to learn Chinese, resources are much appreciated.
Comment by NoWish7507 at 22/09/2024 at 23:44 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
it's just a language, babies learn it all the time. No where near making a rocket
Comment by SergiyWL at 23/09/2024 at 20:00 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Honestly not as difficult as I imagined. It does help to be interested, have consistent schedule of 2-3h a day for months/years, not being afraid to look stupid, and start using it earlier than you feel ready. Being able to chat online is doable in a few months. Being able to chat in person is doable in a year or so, add more time for each new topic to learn about. Advanced level or Classical Chinese is harder, I don’t know about that part but even intermediate is fun for daily life.
I’d say 5/10 as a person for whom it’s very easy to do the same thing 2h every day (it’s hard for some people), and living in cities with a lot of Chinese speakers (so lots of local events to go to).
Comment by [deleted] at 21/09/2024 at 17:51 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
People exaggerate how hard it is because the writing system is difficult. Just try listening and speaking first. Then when you have a basic vocabulary, worry about learning to read and write. It’s an extremely logical language. In English we have grape and raisin. In Chinese they have grape and dry grape. In English we have January February March… in Chinese they have Month 1 Month 2 Month 3… in English we have different words for animal and the meat, in Chinese they use the same word as the animal plus a word that changes the meaning to meat. In English we have words like puppy to describe a young dog. In Chinese they just say the word for small in front of the word for dog. You can do this if you are willing to put some time into it.
Comment by [deleted] at 24/09/2024 at 13:18 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Easy to get a basic level for daily life, but you could spend a lifetime trying to master every aspect of the language. The grammar is easy. For example, you could simply add 过 or 了 to any verb to make it past tense. There’s no memorizing spelling like in English. Nearly all characters have one pronunciation (unlike Japanese). In my experience, the majority of time was spent learning to read and write 1,000s of traditional and simplified characters. Even that gets easier with time after you understand radicals and parts of characters that show up over and over again.
Comment by Zakku_Rakusihi at 25/09/2024 at 09:29 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I'm an English speaker, learning it so far has been relatively difficult. I am attempting to learn to read it first, so I can translate various papers from the Chinese internet, but I'd say in general speaking it or reading it would be highly difficult as an English speaker. It's one of the hardest languages to learn for English as the L1, for reasons I can go into if you would like.
Comment by GFK96 at 25/09/2024 at 14:50 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’ve been learning for 13 years, yes it’s very very difficult. But the difficulty comes in waves. At first it will be very hard because the pronunciation and tones are new for English speakers, same with learning to write characters. Then after you get over the beginner hump it will get easier for a while as you just focus on building up daily use vocabulary, which is just memorizing words and characters. Then it will get hard again as you get to advanced learning and have to learn a lot of Chengyu and advanced formal words.