How long does it take to learn Chinese

Many foreign friends ask me how long it takes to learn Chinese. Well, I will share with you my 15 years of teaching experience for your reference.

Before moving on to this topic, I will divide Chinese learners into two broad categories:

The first category is the students from the cultural circle of Chinese characters, namely the students represented by Japan and South Korea. They are greatly influenced by Chinese culture, and Chinese characters are not unfamiliar to them. They just don't know the pronunciation and tone of Chinese characters, but they have no significant obstacles to understand the writing method and the meaning of Chinese characters. So in the initial learning stage, their acceptance ability is faster.

The second category is Chinese learners from non-Chinese culture countries, namely those represented by European and American countries, who have never been exposed to Chinese culture and are very unfamiliar with Chinese characters. They even think that writing Chinese characters is like drawing a picture.

The second group of students cannot speak, read, or write Chinese for the first time, so we call them "zero-base students."I can't speak a word of Chinese. How long does it take us to learn Chinese from this "zero starting point"?

HSK levels

First of all, let's take a look at the teaching objectives and teaching time of the official HSK test (divided into six levels), and learn about the Chinese proficiency of Chinese learners through the following contents:

HSK 1: Test takers who can pass the HSK 1 can understand and use very simple Chinese phrases, meet basic needs for communication, and possess the ability to further their Chinese language studies.

HSK 2: Test takers who can pass the HSK 2 have an excellent grasp of basic Chinese and can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.

HSK 3: Test takers who can pass the HSK 3 can communicate in Chinese at a basic level in their daily, academic, and professional lives. They can manage most communication in Chinese when traveling in China.

HSK 4: Test takers who can pass the HSK 4 can converse in Chinese on a wide range of topics and can communicate fluently with native Chinese speakers.

HSK 5: Test takers who can pass the HSK 5 can read Chinese newspapers and magazines, enjoy Chinese films and plays and give a full-length speech in Chinese.

HSK 6: Test takers who can pass the HSK 6 can easily comprehend written and spoken information in Chinese and can effectively express themselves in Chinese, both orally and on paper.

A required vocabulary of each level:

HSK1, 150 words

HSK2, 300 words

HSK3, 600 words

HSK4, 1200 words

HSK5, 2500 words

HSK6, 5000 words

Because HSK mainly tests students' reading comprehension ability and writing ability, during the preparation stage, students mainly focus on memorizing, learning grammar points, mastering sentence patterns, and other aspects of language knowledge. Still, practice in verbal communication is little or even ignored. It can also be said to be a kind of exam-oriented Chinese learning. You can also say it "dumb Chinese."

The HSK test itself is not enough to test the ability to listen and speaking in Chinese. Although students who pass the HSK test have passed certain level standards, they will still encounter many conversational barriers and errors in real life.

Here, we divide Chinese proficiency into six levels from the perspective of verbal communication to understand the content and time of each stage of learning.

Learning time:

Note: 

Textbook time is the learning time in class.

Practice time is the practice and review time after class, focus on the textbook.

Extracurricular time is to read some reference materials and books.

Experience time is the time to practice with a native Chinese or live in China, and related.

Level 1, Elementary level

In this level, familiar with the Pinyin, the pronunciation is most important. Mainly learn the pronunciation rules, you may have a third of the time to practice pronunciation, tone, which is very important for learning Chinese.

Why spend so much time practicing pronunciation. Because in Chinese, the tone is different, and the meaning is different. If you learn phonetics well, it will be easier to learn later.

Learning Pinyin, the imitation is very useful. Imitate with a teacher or audio-visual materials, speak slowly, listen carefully, identify the characteristics and differences of each pronunciation.

Also, the teacher should do the correct and standard demonstration, let the students imitate and practice, until master.

Of course, learning pronunciation is also with the learning of the text, basic sentence patterns to learn together, not alone to learn pronunciation, while through the sentence pattern to learn pronunciation. 

We should also memorize the sentence patterns of common words and learn to replace and expand the sentences with these words to achieve fundamental communication capacity.

How long does it take to learn Chinese level 1?

Textbook Time: 30 - 40 hours

Practice Time: 32 - 40 hours

Extracurricular Time: 32 - 40 hours

Totally level 1:  94 - 120 hours

Extracurricular materials: 

full Pinyin alphabet table with audio

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Standard-Textbook-Workbook-textbook/dp/7561916183 

Level 2, Junior level

The key here is to master the structure of Chinese characters, know the construction of Chinese characters; you can read some extracurricular knowledge to understand the basic structure of Chinese characters.

An in-depth understanding of the structure of Chinese characters, such as the fact that a forest is made up of two trees, will be of great help in learning Chinese. 林 = 木 + 木

In addition to pronunciation and Chinese characters, the focus is to grasp the grammatical structure of Chinese; you can look at some Chinese word order and English word order structure of the differences between the book.

Besides, from this stage, we also need to strengthen oral practice, especially communication with Chinese people. Although we also learned some sentence patterns and sentences in the first two stages.

Here, speaking practice refers to using the correct Chinese word order to express their correct sentences, began to emphasize the correctness of the spoken word order, not only to say but also to say correctly, complete. The conversational practice should be combined with the situation, learn how to speak Chinese in real situations.

The first two levels are mainly:

To stimulate their enthusiasm for learning Chinese, to establish a sense of Chinese language and correct Chinese word order. Know repeat, imitate, master the right way of pronunciation, And open your mouth confidently and have simple conversations such as saying hello, shopping, asking directions, making phone calls, etc.

How long does it take to learn Chinese level 2?

Textbook Time: 65 - 76 h

Practice Time: 64 - 80 h

Extracurricular Time: 40 - 80 h

Totally level 2:  169 - 236 h

Totally level 1 ~ 2:  263-356 h

Extracurricular materials:

Introduction to Chinese Characters, word construction, radical.

https://www.amazon.com/Jump-High-Systematic-Chinese-Course/dp/7561950241

https://www.amazon.com/Dominoes-Chinese-Characters-Cumulative-Learning/dp/7561949367

Level 3, intermediate level

In the intermediate level, know the daily words and sentences, pay attention to the discrimination of vocabulary, to use appropriate words, e.g. 按照 vs 根据.

And gradually start to understand the Chinese culture, habits, and differences with the native culture.

And from this level, we should spend some time talking with a native Chinese speaker.

There is a difference between what we learn from books and what we learn from life. We can not learn dumb Chinese, must be in real life to experience and use.

If you have the chance, you can go to summer camp or travel, make Chinese friends and so on. Please note that you need to communicate with the purpose of learning, not just attending without joining; it is the active learning time.

How long does it take to learn Chinese level 3?

Textbook Time: 75 - 80 h

Practice Time: 75 - 80 h

Extracurricular Time: 40 - 80 h

Experience Time: 160 h

Totally level 3: 350 - 400 h

Totally level 1 ~ 3, 613 - 746 h

Extracurricular materials:

Know and distinguish learned Chinese Synonyms

http://www.blcup.com/EnPInfo/index/8603#001

Level 4, Upper-intermediate level

It is a watershed from level 3 to level 4, which has many more intermediate and advanced words than level 3.

From level 4, we need to spend more time practicing your reading and writing skills; writing is a tricky part of learning Chinese. 

Even you don't speak Chinese well; it doesn’t matter; you may be able to communicate with your body language or other aids tools. 

But writing is different, and it requests you to master the strokes of Chinese characters, a certain amount of vocabulary and correct grammar. And people must care more about your writing mistakes than your speaking because writing is more formal than speaking.

Thus way, how to improve writing skills is more critical. It should be emphasized here that when you have finished writing, it is best to ask the teacher to correct your mistakes and tell you what is wrong. Just that, you can know where the wrong is and how to improve them.

And also, the reading comprehension skill is also essential for this level, and you also need to spend more time on that. But reading is more accessible than writing because you can infer the meaning of a passage from some individual words.

After passing level 4, we should be able to live independently in China.

How long does it take to learn Chinese level 4?

Textbook Time: 170 - 180 h

Practice Time: 170 - 180 h

Extracurricular Time: 40 - 80 h

Experience Time: 320 h

Totally level 4: 700  - 760 h

Totally level 1 ~ 4: 1313 - 1506 h

Level 5, advanced level

At the advanced level, many of the superior Chinese idioms, grammar, and culture related background frequently appeared. Maybe you can read these Chinese, but you can't understand the meaning. E.g., 放鸽子, the original meaning is releasing white pigeons; the real meaning stands me up.

In this level, students can be relatively fluent in expressing their ideas and opinions, and willing to express their thoughts and ideas; self-study ability is also powerful. 

Although there are still some grammatical errors, the fluency of speech is perfect. This level, not only to master more advanced vocabulary and grammar but also involved in some idioms, network vocabulary, more fluent expression of their views.

The objectives of the level 4 and 5 are:

1. Can use Chinese freely in life

2. Express the meaning in Chinese, clearly and accurately, without ambiguity

3. Appropriate speed of language expression, no hesitation,

4. Can express yourself mind fluently in paragraphs.

How long does it take to learn Chinese level 5?

Textbook Time: 170 - 180 h

Practice Time: 240 - 300 h

Extracurricular Time: 80 - 120 h

Experience Time: 480 h

Totally level 4: 970 - 1080 h

Totally level 1 ~ 5: 2283 - 2596 h

Extracurricular materials:

News

Books in some fields

Level 6, plateau level

Students at this level have generally lived in China for a long time. They have extensive contact with the real social situation of China, understand the humor of Chinese, understand common social phenomena and cultural customs. 

And have a thorough understanding of the Chinese economy, politics, and culture, which is also known as "China expert." There are many Chinese cultural elements, and the learning at this stage is mainly from the perspective of television, newspapers, social news, and cultural customs. To master Chinese is not only to learn the language well but also to master the cultural knowledge behind the language.

This level also has small troubles, it is like the plateau. That is to say, and if he wants to improve his Chinese, he will not grow as quickly as he did in the early and intermediate stages. The students at this stage just keep getting closer to Chinese natives, but there will always be a little distance.

How long does it take to learn Chinese level 6?

At the very least, you need to have lived in China for more than 2 years to be a China expert.