Why the Chinese Language is not easy for Westerners?

Learning Chinese is not an easy task, especially for Westerners, but it is not impossible. Many things like tones, grammar, vocab, sounds, and characters make it difficult to learn Chinese. Let’s look into the obstacles that make Chinese a challenging language.  

Tones

Chinese is a tonal language, a word with different tones that deliver different meanings. In Chinese, if you speak a word with the wrong tone your meaning will be changed completely. So without learning Chinese tones, you can’t speak Chinese properly.

For example, take the word ‘right’ If I use a question mark with ‘right’ it sounds like the second tone in Chinese, which is a rising tone. If I use the word as an exclamation or confirmation ‘right!’ it will sound like the fourth tone in Chinese. In English, it is the same word with the same meaning, while Chinese tones change the meaning of words. 

In Chinese, words are generally short, included only one or two syllables. So it is essential to use the correct tone. In other languages with longer words like definitely or dictionary, if you speak one syllable wrong, you still have a chance that people will understand what you are trying to say. 

Sounds

Sounds are the most important part of the Chinese language. Without learning sounds you can’t distinguish the Chinese words property. For foreigners, it can be difficult to understand Chinese sounds, but if you consider the Chinese sounds as English it will become simple.

Some Chinese sounds, especially sh- and Dj- type of sounds at the start of a word are difficult to pronounce properly. Some sounds are also difficult to distinguish. The Chinese language has many words that start with this type of sound. So for foreigners, it can be hard to understand the sounds and their difference. Many Chinese used to pronounce these sounds differently, so a ‘sh’ may sound like ‘s’ which confuses the Westerners even more. 

Grammar

As compared to tones, characters, sounds, and vocabulary Chinese grammar is simple to understand. There are no conjugations, past, future, and other tenses in Chinese grammar. Though it is good that you don’t need to learn these things, it can make it difficult to understand the meaning of a sentence without these grammar hints when coming from a different language context. 

Moreover, in Chinese, the word order is totally different, and multiple verbs are frequently twisted together for specific meanings. This can make it hard to understand what the speaker is trying to say. Understanding spoken Chinese is challenging for foreigners. It is challenging for me personally, but I know many Chinese learners who are very good at their skills. 

Chinese characters

Many people say that learning characters is not necessary. So many learners decide not to learn Chinese characters and focus on the spoken Chinese only. It is hard to learn to write characters, even sometimes people get confused between the puzzling structures of characters.

A big disadvantage of not learning characters is you can’t read newspapers, books, or other reading contexts. If you can’t read the Chinese words, you can’t develop your vocabulary. For Chinese learning, you need to learn Chinese characters.

Vocabulary

Learning basic Chinese vocabulary is not so difficult, but it can be boring. You have to memorize a much bigger list of vocabulary to understand the average person speaking. The Chinese language has many words with a minor difference in meaning. Many words have similar meanings but are used in different situations. 

For example, in Chinese, there are many words that mean ‘happy’ People will probably understand you if you use the right word for ‘happy’ even in the wrong context, but you may don’t understand the different words people used for ‘happy’

Conclusion

So with all those difficulties, how do you learn Chinese as an ex-pat in China? Well, you are at the right start. Find a tutor or class which can help you learn Chinese effectively, and if it seems not to go well, you should not get frustrated. Keep learning language with constant struggle and practice, you will notice obvious results. 

Practice is very important in learning a language. Find language partners and practice with them. If you practice a language with a native speaker, you will likely learn a language faster and effectively. 

Learning Chinese is not easy, but it is very rewarding. You can share your experiences, difficulties, and achievements in the comments below.