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Don't Think Chinese is as Difficult as You
Imagine!
Since the '80s of the last century, the number
of foreigners learning Chinese has been increasingly rapidly
with the development of communication and cooperation between
China and other countries the world over. At present, there
are more than 300 universities and colleges admitting foreign
learners of Chinese; the enrolments in 1999 alone, according
to incomplete statistics, are 40,000, with the majority being
in Beijing.
When the news about China's admission to WTO
is spread out, a conspicuous reaction is that the appeal to
study Chinese becomes more popular in other countries. Some
years ago, an influential French entrepreneur wrote: "if
we hope our future generations suit the situation of the 21st
century, then we should enable them to obtain ability of reaction…
to some people, it is something very pressing to learn the
Chinese language, the carrier of Oriental culture. Therefore,
it's essential to those children and youth today who will
become teachers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs or businessmen
to grasp this language." His wish is being fulfilled.
Some people have the desire to learn Chinese,
but they are afraid that the language is too difficult, and
some even assert that the most difficult thing to do in the
world is to learn Chinese. As a matter of fact, this is a
misunderstanding - it's true that the learning of any unrelated
language will be comparatively difficult than that of a related
language. The Chinese language is not related to European
languages, therefore to English-speaking people, it is not
as easy to study as French or Spanish, for example. However,
the learning of Chinese is in no way as difficult as some
people imagine.
The most prominent characteristic is that every
one of the 1,200 syllables (a very limited number) stands
for some meaning. The syllable is the combination of three
constituents, namely the initial, the final and the tone.
There are 21 initials, 35 finals and four basic tones, with
a few sandhis. Most of the initials and finals are not difficult,
and only the tones with their sandhis and very few initials
and finals constitute some difficulty. In my opinion, the
difficulty in learning Chinese pronunciation is relative in
nature; that is to say, this difficulty can be surmounted
by constant practice, and your pronunciation can then be like
Chinese.
To learn the written form of Chinese, one must
learn Chinese characters, the written symbols and unique script
with a long history. Chinese learners are not used to studying
Chinese characters. Now some linguists and language teachers
have started to focus their studies on how to enable learners
to learn Chinese characters faster. They have discovered that
there are aspects that make Chinese characters easy to learn.
Firstly, the number of commonly-used characters is limited.
According to statistics, one can read non-technical publications
without much difficulty, if s/he has a command of about 3,000
characters. Secondly, characters are made of components which,
in their part, are composed of strokes. Out of the 400-600
characters, only 100 are commonly used, and a considerable
part of those are characters by themselves.
As to strokes, the total number is about 30,
among which there are only 8 basic ones. That means the quantity
of characters and their components and strokes will not make
a heavy burden to learners, so long as they have some understanding
of the strokes, components and construction of characters.
Thirdly, the rules of character construction are a guide to
understanding and memorizing characters. Some characters are
known as the pictographic characters, and it's easy to learn
them if one associates them with the things that they stand
for. The great majority of characters are pictophonetic characters,
which are made up of two components, with one usually indicating
the meaning, and the other the pronunciation. Most of these
components give us hints as to the meaning and pronunciation
of characters, although they don't give them accurately, due
to the evolution of Chinese. The other two kinds are associative
and self-explanatory characters, which are also quite easy
to realize and memorize in their meanings.
Chinese, as with any other developed language
in the world, has a large vocabulary. However, one will be
able to read non-technical publications with a mastery of
around 8,000 words. Actually, some words can be readily understood
without special study. The reason is that the meanings of
many words consisting of two or more characters can be inferred
from the meanings of the characters or context, so one's vocabulary
can be rapidly expanded when they have grasped a certain number
of characters.
What about Chinese grammar? It's not so difficult
- you can come to this conclusion when you know one fact.
A zero-level foreign learner of Chinese can conduct everyday
conversation after two or three months of intensive training.
The most important characteristic of Chinese grammar is that
the sentence is normally composed of two sections, with the
first being 'what' and the second 'how; that is to say, the
first section of a sentence refers to a person or thing in
question, and the second section is a description of the person
or thing. The 'what' section may be an action or activity,
referred to by a verb that is considered as a thing. Modifiers
of the noun, the verb or the adjective always precede the
word they modify. This basic sentence formula is easy to understand.
As it is comparatively difficult to those of European languages,
including English and French, it calls for practice before
getting used to it. Of course, what we are talking about here
is the basic formula. There are more complicated rules that
need conscientious study.
Chinese is a developed language with a long
history, and one spoken by a population which is larger than
those speaking any other languages. With the rapid development
of China's economy, sciences and technology, and the ever-expanding
international exchange and cooperation, the need of personnel
with knowledge of Chinese becomes more and more urgent in
many countries throughout the world. To meet this need, increasing
numbers of people will choose to study Chinese. At the time
when the world is past the gate of the 21st century, people
have seen China's great potential in politics, economy, sciences,
technology and trade, potentials that will have their full
play in the coming century. By that time, one will feel it's
a pity if he or she doesn't know Chinese.
Author
Prof. Lu Bisong
President, Beijing New Asia University
President, International Society for Chinese Teaching in the
World
Ex-President, Beijing Language Institute
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