Why Learn Mandarin?

How would you like to be able to communicate with over a billion new people, learn about one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world and make yourself and others smile?  All you need is 30 minutes a day to make this come true!  What am I talking about, you ask?  Learning Mandarin!  Sure, you have heard that Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages to learn.  I won’t lie to you, it is. But I want to convince you that with tiny steps, patience, an open mind and willingness to be wrong, you too can learn something that will pay itself back many times over in terms of personal satisfaction.

Why would you want to learn Mandarin in the first place?  Here are the key reasons: make new friends, understand a country whose future is interdependent with the United States and perhaps most importantly, have fun learning more about Chinese culture.  Who doesn’t need more fun in life?

If you learn some Mandarin, I guarantee you will make friends.  Chinese people do not expect foreigners to be able to say anything in Mandarin and when they hear you making an effort they will get very excited and want to help you.  They will want to be your friend.  Really.  It’s true.  Everyone can use more friends. 

I won’t go into all of the politics, but the fact remains, China and the United States will be interconnected for the rest of our lives.  We are trading partners, rivals, frenemies, but maybe, one day, we might be true friends.  I believe that the more people that really learn about China, including through learning Mandarin, we will take the first step toward mutual respect and understanding.  Hey, studying a language to promote world peace, what could be bad about that?

Do you like Chinese food?  Wouldn’t it be great to say the name of one or two dishes in Mandarin when you order at a Chinese restaurant.  The waitstaff will be shocked!  They might look at you like you are some kind of talking dog that shouldn’t be speaking their language, but once they get over the initial disbelief they will smile and even suggest dishes to try.  After some practice, you may even get a “Very good Chinese, mister!” 

How about Chinese dramas?  Did you know that these even existed?  They are completely different from Western soap operas and can be truly addictive.  You can find many with English subtitles on Youtube.  There are two broad categories: the historic “costume dramas” and the contemporary romantic comedies.  Dramas can have 40 or 50 episodes, so it can be a major commitment to watch one.  I highly recommend “Nirvana in Fire” for a costume drama and “Fated to Love You”, the Taiwanese version, for a romantic comedy.  “Nirvana in Fire” has a suspenseful story-line, gorgeous actors, costumes and breathtaking scenery.  “Fated to Love You” is a Cinderella story that made me sob out loud several times.  I remember lying in bed watching it on my cell phone and when the heroine, Chen Xin Yi, played by the captivating actress Joe Chen, came a crucial point in the story, I really lost it.  Wendy thought I was choking and when she realized I was crying she burst out laughing.  OK, so not everyone may get as worked up as I did, but you might.  In addition to some drama-induced catharsis, you will hear some words you recognize and improve your Mandarin ear!   What’s more, drama soundtracks often have catchy tunes that you can find on Spotify or Youtube.  The music will help you will pick up some more vocabulary.

You have read this far and hopefully are considering learning Mandarin.  How to go about it?  The essential things to have 1) the right attitude, 2) a teacher, 3) a smart phone or computer, 4) pen and paper, 5) 30 minutes a day.  Whoah, so I am telling you that not only do you need the right attitude, but you need a teacher and other things as well?  Let me explain each item one by one.  Don’t give up yet!

The right attitude is: “I am OK with making lots of mistakes.  What I did yesterday is done, today is a chance to do better.  I can do this.  Some quiet time with Mandarin practice is good for my soul.”  You could think of Mandarin practice as a chance to slow things down and open your mind. 

A teacher:  Well, yes, you really do need a teacher if you are going to make progress.  I found mine through a friend.  You may have a local Chinese school near you.  They could give you some references.  More and more, there are teachers in China who will meet with you via video chat. 

Your teacher will likely recommend a textbook.  We have been using the “Intergrated Chinese” (IC)  series since we began.  The website for IC: https://ic.cheng-tsui.com/.  You can get the books second hand on Amazon.  I strongly urge you to get the accompanying workbooks.  They are the glue that helps you cement the text into your brain.  Be prepared to do the lessons several times.  The more the better.  Repetition is your friend when it comes to Mandarin.

“Integrated Chinese” is actually entertaining.  There is a sort of “mini-drama” going on in the series.  There are four principle characters, Wang Peng, Gao Wen Zhong, Bai Ying Ai and Li You.  You want to find out what happens to them.  It helps to keep you moving along.  On YouTube you can see some clever spoofs of the text book dialogues made by clever Chinese students. 

The primary reason why you need a teacher is that you need her to help you learn how to pronounce the words and get the tones right.  You may have heard about this feature of Mandarin:  each character has its own sound with its own “tone”.  There are four tones and you need to be conscious of the tone for every character, all the time.  If you don’t know the tone, you won’t be able to pronounce the word. It’s just that simple.  You need a teacher to correct your prononciation, both of the words as well as the tones.  There are several sounds in Chinese that don’t exist in English.  Your teacher will help you say them correctly, otherwise, you will not be understood. 

Let’s look at an example; the word “Ma”.  This actually means mother!  This “Ma” uses the first or high level tone.  Imagine saying to your mother, “Ma, could I borrow some money?”  The tone you would use with her would be that high level, sort of pleading sound, appealing to her maternal instincts to help you out.  Another example of the high level tone is when you say “Hmmmm” in the sentence “Hmmm, I think I gave you an extra $100 last week, why do you need more now?” 

The second tone is described as a “rising tone”.  This is the sound you would use when asking a question, like “Do you know where my jacket is, ma?”  The “ma” in this case would have a rising, questioning sound.  It is also like that rising “ay” sound that you hear Canadians put at the end of  sentences when they want to add a “Don’t you think”? 

The third tone is a “falling-rising tone”?  What could that be?  Imagine saying the alphabet slowly to a child, “A, B, C…”.  The way you naturally pronounce “B” gets close to this idea.  If you remember “The Fonz” from “Happy Days”, the way he says “Ayy” in, “Ayy, I’m never wrong.” would be an exaggerated third tone. 

The fourth tone is the one that makes Chinese people sound angry.  This is the falling tone.  They’re not yelling at each other, they are just speaking clearly.  This is the sound you make when you say, “Stop, thief!”   Both the “stop” and the “thief” would be fourth tones. 

There is no way around the truth: tones matter.  Imagine if you said, “Please pass me the coke.”, when what you meant was “Please pass me the cake”.  This is the problem Chinese speakers will face if you get you’re the tones wrong.  You could end up with coke instead of cake.  Your Chinese teacher is the only one who can listen to you and correct your tones.  Be prepared to be wrong.  A lot.  But, I promise you will get better with practice. 

Remember, I said that you need a smart phone or computer.  This is because I strongly recommend an audio program by a longtime company called Pimsleur.  Pimsleur audio guides have been around for decades and they have a very convenient app for your smart phone.  Each 30-minute lesson is well designed with lots of chances for repetition.  It helps really get the sound of Mandarin into your head.  It is an excellent audio program, but you need to be prepared for a steep learning curve.  There is a “driving” mode, as in “I am driving a car and doing the lesson”, but it works better if you can concentrate on it and not be doing anything else.  Finally, you will want use it as recommended, 30 minutes a day, day after day.  I have listened to and studied the lessons many times over the past 4 years.  They’re fantastic. 

The next program you will want to buy is Pleco for your smart phone.  This Chinese-English/English Chinese dictionary has many wonderful features, including audio so you can hear the words pronounced and step by step instructions for writing each character.  You can even use your camera on a character you don’t know and Pleco will tell you what it is.  Invaluable.

I have used Skritter, a program that helps you learn how to write and pronounce characters.  At around $100 a year subscription, it is a serious commitment, but has been very helpful with character practice. When I find myself stuck somewhere with 5 free minutes, I can work on my characters. 

Finally, I mentioned paper and pen.  Writing out your lessons many times is the best way to get Mandarin into your brain.  It reminds me of memorizing things in medical school.  I came up with what I called “the rule of 3’s”.  If I didn’t write a fact at least 3 times, there was less than a 50% chance I would remember for an exam.  With Mandarin, it probably should be the rule of “33”, but please, don’t let me discourage you.  Life and death decisions won’t depend on your tone pronunciation or character writing.  Instead, you should enjoy yourself writing the beautiful characters, admire them, and realize that they have been around, mostly unchanged, for thousands of years. 

In conclusion, learning Mandarin probably won’t change the world, but I hope it will make your view of the world more interesting and more fun.  You will better understand one of the oldest continuous cultures and one of our most important trading partners.  You will be able to recognize some items on a Chinese restaurant menu and you may even find yourself addicted to Chinese costume dramas.  Best of all though, is you will make some great friends for life.  Just think, all of this for just 30 minutes a day.  What a great deal!