|
RonaldFuckingPaul
Our Dear Leader



Registered: 10/31/07
Posts: 13,617
Loc: Straight Outta Compton
Last seen: 9 years, 6 months
|
Learning Mandarin Chinese
#17358201 - 12/08/12 10:51 PM (11 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
Mandarin is one of the "major" languages of the modern era. I figure it'd be a good idea to learn it for both practical and recreational reasons. Anybody here speak/write mandarin?
--------------------
|
lovesexdubstep
buy the ticket, take the ride


Registered: 12/18/11
Posts: 665
Last seen: 5 years, 4 months
|
|
ya a little. good luck bro, its a pretty hard language to learn for the western ear.
--------------------
 molly lucy maryjane resident med student, PM science based questions
|
Patito
Perdido

Registered: 04/23/12
Posts: 77
|
|
I wouldn't bother unless you're actually going to China. Too much effort for too little gained.
|
k00laid
NEMO


Registered: 05/03/10
Posts: 19,636
Last seen: 6 months, 22 days
|
Re: Learning Mandarin Chinese [Re: Patito]
#17358293 - 12/08/12 11:20 PM (11 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Patito said: I wouldn't bother unless you're actually going to China. Too much effort for too little gained.
+1
if youre staying in america you'll want to learn spanish
-------------------- AMU - AMU Q & A - MyVideo Teks!
|
starfire_xes
I Am 'They'



Registered: 10/24/09
Posts: 21,590
Loc: Dallas with all the assho...
Last seen: 7 months, 19 days
|
|
i speak japanese fluently, but I'm looking into mandarin. My company will pay for it because we own a factory in shenzhen.
--------------------
    [/url] [/url]
IF THE NEIGHBORS COMPLAIN BECAUSE THE MUSIC'S TOO LOUD, TURN IT UP SO YOU CAN'T HEAR THEM BITCH
|
Nova

Registered: 10/16/02
Posts: 1,365
Last seen: 5 years, 7 months
|
|
Easy to speak, very difficult to read/write. Same goes for japanese. Korean is easier to read/write because they dont use the chinese characters.
|
Dawks
Jolly African Potato


Registered: 06/09/10
Posts: 4,935
|
|
My chinese friend speaks mandarin. It seems like a pretty difficult language to learn to me and I can't really think of a situation where I would need to speak it either than:
a. Living in china b. China takes over the world
--------------------
date ; unzip ; strip ; touch ; grep ; finger ; mount ; fsck ; more ; yes ; umount ; sleep
|
abltsandwich
JFK = Jelly Donut




Registered: 06/16/09
Posts: 11,537
Loc: Dildoville
|
|
If you can speak both English and Mandarin fluently, there's probably a job for you in the government. As China grows in power and wealth, fluent speakers will be needed by the USA for all sorts of things. My understanding is that for non-native speakers, it takes a lifetime to really become fluent, and even then a native speaker will still be able to tell that you aren't a native speaker.
|
Acaterpillar
A little mad...



Registered: 06/09/07
Posts: 18,693
Loc: Down the rabbit hole
Last seen: 4 months, 13 days
|
|
I can speak a little bit of Cantonese but no Mandarin.
I would personally learn Cantonese before Mandarin, but that's because of my own associations.
-------------------- Aaa...E I O Uuu...A E I O Uuu..A E I O uh Uuu.. *Cough* *Cough* Ooo...U E I O Aaa...U E I Aaa..A E I O Uuuuu... At first sight, The Perfection of Wisdom is bewildering, full of paradox and apparent irrationality.
|
Sophistic Radiance
Free sVs!



Registered: 07/11/06
Posts: 43,135
Loc: Center of the Universe
|
|
I've been thinking about studying it. I mean it just seems like the kind of language you'd have to know if you want to have a Competitive Advantage in the Job Marketplace of the Future.
It looks like a bitch to learn, though. They practically have a fucking pictographic script. You need to know thousands of characters just to be literate. And the pronunciation of words actually includes the tones of syllables. That's why it always has that wacky sing-songy sound. You have to speak that way or you won't be understood. You didn't hear it from me, but Chinese people are crazy.
-------------------- Enlil said: You really are the worst kind of person.
|
Apollyphelion
Dungeon Master/Princess(1009)


Registered: 03/15/07
Posts: 16,757
Loc: Festival of Deaths
|
Re: Learning Mandarin Chinese [Re: Patito]
#17358947 - 12/09/12 01:58 AM (11 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Patito said: I wouldn't bother unless you're actually going to China. Too much effort for too little gained.
This is entirely untrue. There are nothing but benefits from learning another language, even if it is for fun.
--------------------
"I'm looking at you looking at it" SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL PLEASE! www.youtube.com/apollyphelion Creator of the World's Worst Comic Book
|
Sophistic Radiance
Free sVs!



Registered: 07/11/06
Posts: 43,135
Loc: Center of the Universe
|
|
Quote:
Apollyphelion said:
Quote:
Patito said: I wouldn't bother unless you're actually going to China. Too much effort for too little gained.
This is entirely untrue. There are nothing but benefits from learning another language, even if it is for fun.
I have a nasty feeling that it would serve me very well to know Mandarin by the time I'm doing postgraduate stuff. I'm interested in doing publicly funded scientific research. 
REPUBLICAAAAAAAAN'TS!
-------------------- Enlil said: You really are the worst kind of person.
|
abltsandwich
JFK = Jelly Donut




Registered: 06/16/09
Posts: 11,537
Loc: Dildoville
|
|
wut
|
Sophistic Radiance
Free sVs!



Registered: 07/11/06
Posts: 43,135
Loc: Center of the Universe
|
|
As far as I can tell, America's participation in science for science's sake is going down the shitter. Idiot tea partiers cite funding for research on crab shells as a typical example of big government waste. If these fuckwits have their way I'm going to have to move to China.
-------------------- Enlil said: You really are the worst kind of person.
|
|