How I Made Chinese Easy

Why Mandarin Chinese is Difficult to Learn

In this video, the speaker explains why Mandarin Chinese is considered one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. The speaker also shares an amazing realization that can make learning Chinese easier and faster.

Tones and Characters

• Mandarin tones make understanding and producing Chinese accurately very challenging for English speakers.

• Learning at least a couple of thousand characters to be able to read well, ideally 3,000 of them if you want to be able to consume pretty much anything in the language.

• Rote learning is the go-to method for learning characters but it's mind-numbingly boring and incredibly demotivating. Most mnemonic systems don't work very well at all and they don't teach you the pronunciation as well so you kind of have to learn that separately which takes ages.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin Chinese has a set of sounds that do not exist in English at all and without great coaching they can be super tough to get the hang of too.

• Mandarin only also has around 400 or so different sounding syllables compared to the 10,000 Plus in English.

How to Make Learning Chinese Easier

• There are things about Chinese that make it take a little bit longer to get the hang of but it certainly doesn't need to take three or four times longer.

• Traditional methods offer no way of actually efficiently reviewing what you learn.

• Learning characters is a kind of little Marathon you have to do before starting the main Marathon.

Common Challenges in Learning Chinese

In this section, the speaker discusses some of the challenges that learners face when trying to learn Chinese.

Differences in Word Order and Measure Words

• Chinese word order is different from English.

• Measure words are specific to different objects with certain properties.

• There are also words with grammatical functions that don't exist in English.

Factors Affecting Difficulty of Learning Chinese

• The nature of the language itself is one factor affecting difficulty.

• The second factor is how learners approach learning the language.

• Understanding messages (comprehensible input) is key to acquiring a language.

• Rapid improvement can be achieved by listening to audio dialogues and watching simple content like cartoons.

Overcoming Challenges in Learning Chinese

• Smarter, less soul-destroying ways of learning and remembering Chinese characters can make reading easier.

• Memory palaces and spaced repetition software can help efficiently remember everything learned.

• Learning characters makes many parts of the language easier.

The Power of Comprehensible Input

In this section, the speaker talks about how he improved his Chinese language skills by using comprehensible input and immersion.

Using Subtitles and Transcripts

• The speaker found that reading subtitles and transcripts helped him learn new words quickly.

• He used a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words on the fly.

• He also discovered mnemonic techniques for learning words faster.

Acquiring Grammar Naturally

• By immersing himself in the language, the speaker naturally improved his grammar.

• He learned grammatical structures by seeing them in context repeatedly.

• Instead of studying grammar rules, he acquired grammar naturally through mass exposure.

Tackling Difficult Grammatical Words

• The speaker found that difficult grammatical words became super obvious to him after enough input and daily shadowing and speaking practice.

• Measure words were easy to tackle because there are only around 20 commonly used ones in speech.

• By mastering three easy tongue positions, the speaker was able to pronounce sounds that don't exist in English like a native.

The Importance of Approach

• The efficiency, effectiveness, and fun level of methods and tools used are more important than the difficulty of the language itself.

• Someone learning Spanish might find it harder learning traditionally through textbooks than someone learning Chinese using comprehensible input and immersion.

Mandarin Blueprint Method

• The Mandarin Blueprint Method is a 9,000 lesson curriculum that takes learners from zero to near-native proficiency in Chinese.

• It teaches over 3,000 characters and just under 12,000 words with tons of example sentences dialogues and articles with studio-quality male and female recorded audio.

• The method combines videos, memory techniques, and flashcards to help learners gain rapid comprehension in Chinese.

The Missing Piece

• There is still a third and even bigger factor in how difficult or easy Chinese becomes that the speaker will discuss in the next section.

Losing Motivation in Learning Chinese

In this section, the speaker talks about how he lost motivation to learn Chinese due to his busy life and other priorities.

Losing Focus on Learning Chinese

• The speaker became too busy with his business, family, and daily tasks that he stopped prioritizing learning Chinese.

• He also stopped exercising, eating well, and drinking alcohol moderately which made him tired and burned out easily.

• When he did put time into learning Chinese, it was just light reading. He stopped consuming Chinese media and doing speaking practice which caused his ability to express himself in Chinese to atrophy.

Psychological and Emotional Obstacles

• The speaker's ego stopped him from leaving his comfort zone when it came to speaking. His habits, mindset, and physical health were at an all-time low which made it difficult for him to get excited about learning Chinese.

• Despite having the best methods and tools for acquiring Chinese quickly and easily, the psychological and emotional obstacles he created for himself made learning Chinese hard again.

Overcoming Language Difficulty

In this section, the speaker talks about how he overcame language difficulty by making changes in his habits, mindset, and approach towards learning.

Building Good Habits

• The speaker learned how to build good habits by developing a balance between family health work and study. He dropped or massively cut down on bad habits despite being busier than ever.

• He set aside at least an hour a day to actively immerse himself in Chinese media which helped him improve his listening skills.

Finding Quality Resources

• The quality of Chinese media is lower due to censorship by the Chinese government. However, the speaker found podcasts and YouTube videos that talked about western movies and Chinese TV shows that were good. He relied on Chinese for more education than entertainment.

Dropping Ego

• The speaker stopped taking himself so seriously and worrying so much about making mistakes. He pushed himself to get out of his comfort zone when it came to speaking.

• As a result of these changes, he now sees consistent incremental improvements in his Chinese with minimal effort. All negative emotions associated with learning the language are gone, and he enjoys the journey every single day.

Learning Chinese: Habits and Mindset

In this section, the speaker discusses how effective, efficient, and fun approaches can make learning Chinese easier. The speaker also emphasizes that the learner's habits and mindset are crucial factors in language acquisition.

Developing Effective Habits

• Consistently set aside 30 to 60 minutes or more a day for learning Chinese.

• Maintain a positive, playful, and exploratory perspective on language learning.

• Eat well, sleep well, and exercise regularly to learn more effectively.

• Continuously discover new resources, methods, and tools for improved language acquisition.

Cultivating a Positive Mindset

• Trust in the acquisition process even when results are not immediately apparent.

• Laugh at yourself when you make mistakes; stay humble and curious.

• Leave your comfort zone and push through the inevitable period of struggling with the language.

Overall, developing effective habits such as consistent practice time and maintaining a positive mindset can make learning Chinese easier. Trusting in the process of acquiring a new language is important even when progress may not be immediately visible.