1 What language or languages are most commonly spoken in China?

In China, the official language is called Putonghua – or "standard language" - more commonly known in the Western world as Mandarin. Mandarin takes the Northern dialect as its foundation, and the Beijing accent as its standard for pronunciation.

At present, the Chinese language has seven dialects: northern dialect, Wu dialect, Xiang dialect, Gan dialect, Hakka, Min dialect and Yue or Guangdong dialect. The differences between Mandarin and these other dialects range from small to vast, and include everything from pronunciation to grammar, and especially vocabulary.

The most distant dialect from Mandarin is Cantonese, in which vowels, consonants and tones are all different. In fact, the dialects are so different as to be mutually unintelligible for native speakers.

2 What is learning Mandarin useful for?

With the world’s largest population and second-largest economy, China has emerged in the past decade as a global hub of change and innovation. As China’s official language, Mandarin is a great window into the people, culture, and ideas of this new frontier. On a more practical level, studying Chinese can be a big help when traveling, studying abroad, and going on business trips – and in this changing global economy, can even help you find a job.

3 What are some good ways to learn Chinese?

One of the most important keys to successful study is regular practice and reinforcement. This doesn’t mean you have to spend hours every day slaving away

over your books; even short daily or semi-daily sessions of reading, speaking, or listening can work wonders for your Chinese.

Studying Chinese doesn’t have to be all hitting the books though. Engaging with Chinese culture and media – music, news, movies, books – is a fun, interesting way of extending your knowledge and applying what you’ve already learned. Children’s books and cartoons are an especially useful way of combining fun and learning into one.

4 What are some aspects of studying Chinese?

The most basic elements of studying Chinese can be broken down into Pinyin, grammar and Chinese characters, or Hanzi. Pinyin (the official system for Romanizing Chinese characters) is the foundation for learning correct pronunciation and character study.
br>Some students only use Pinyin to practice their oral Chinese, neglecting the characters. But in the long run, studying Hanzi will help you understand more about Chinese culture, thereby maximizing your Chinese learning.

5 How long will it take me to learn Chinese?

This depends on the student, and on the level you are hoping to achieve. Perhaps the two most difficult aspects of Chinese learning, for many Western students, are the characters and the tones. Unlike most Western languages, Chinese features a dual writing system consisting of Pinyin and Hanzi, the former dealing with pronunciation, and the latter with reading and writing.

To be fully functional in Chinese, it’s crucial to learn both. In Mandarin, some Pinyin words may translate to many different Chinese characters, which in turn have different meanings. In spoken language, tones likewise affect meaning.

Adding all these aspects up makes Chinese a difficult - but definitely rewarding - experience.

For these reasons, it is important for beginners to establish a solid foundation for their Chinese learning. Generally speaking, students can master Pinyin within 1-2 weeks, and in 3-6 months, begin having simple conversations with their Chinese-speaking teachers and friends.

Naturally, not all students are on the same learning curve. Some may learn faster than others and vice versa. However, studying Chinese is a long-term commitment that requires perseverance. Many students who have studied for several years continue to learn and improve their Chinese.

6 What is Pinyin and what is it used for?

Pinyin (pīnyīn) is the official system used to transcribe Chinese characters into the Arabic alphabet. The more official name Hanyu Pinyin is sometimes used, where Hànyǔ means the oral language of Han (Putonghua) and pinyin literally means "spelled sound" (phonetics). Pinyin usually consists of initials, finals and tones.

While Pinyin may seem elementary, it’s a crucial tool for foreigners studying Mandarin, and the gateway to understanding tones and pronunciation.

7 What are tones and how do they work?

Chinese is a tonal language, and has four basic tones: the first, or “high,” tone (ˉ), the second, or “rising,” tone(ˊ), the third “low” tone(ˇ), and the fourth “falling” tone(ˋ). In addition to the four tones, there is also a neutral tone (qīng shēng), which is pronounced light and short.

Tones are very important in Chinese. The same syllable with different tones can have different meanings. For examples: bā means eight, bá means pull, bǎ means target, and bà means dad.

8 What are Chinese characters? Do I need to learn them?

Unlike English, which is an alphabetic language, Chinese writing consists of “characters,” with each representing a syllable. A simple example is 好(hǎo), which means “good.” There are two units in character construction, the stroke (like 丨) and the component called the "radical" (like 扌).

If you only want to use Chinese for everyday communication, you probably don't need to study Chinese characters, or Hanzi. But if you want to read Chinese books, take a Chinese language proficiency test, study Chinese culture or live in China for an extended period, studying Hanzi is essential.

Though Pinyin is a common part of Chinese education, it’s rarely encountered in real life. Therefore, even a basic understanding of Chinese characters goes a long way toward understanding and living in Chinese culture.

9 What are radicals? Do I need to learn radicals?

Traditionally, Chinese characters are grouped together according to common components known as “radicals.” These, in turn, consist of strikes, like: 扌, 氵, 亻, etc.

By learning the radicals and other basic components, you will find that recognizing, remembering and reproducing characters will be much easier. Knowing the radicals is also a must when using dictionaries that arrange characters according to their radicals.

10 What are measure words?

A measure word 量词 (liàng cí), also known as a classifier, is used along with numerals to define the quantity of a given object or with words such as “this” and “that” to identify specific objects. The most common example is the measure word 个 (ge), which can be used in the following ways: 一个人(one person), 这个人(this person), 那个人(that person)

In terms of measure words, the main difference between English and Chinese is that Chinese requires a measure word for most objects. In English, one can say “two books.” In Chinese, we do not say “两书,” but “两本书,” with 本 serving as the measure word for book 书.

However, when a noun is not counted or introduces with “this” or “that,” measure words are not necessary. For example, we do not say “我的本书,” but rather “我的书.”