Whether you’re just starting your studies of Oriental or have been studying for a while, it’s of great importance you are aware of your motivations for attempting to learn the language. The more clearly defined your motivations for learning Chinese, the higher you can be at reaching YOUR individual goals. Sure, you may be saying, “I already have reasons for learning Chinese.” You might even have several apparently known reasons for learning Chinese, such as for example:
“Chinese is the language of the future” or
“Chinese speakers are in high demand”
“China has 1.3 billion people” or
I’m not saying these are bad reasons for learning Chinese. They are fine reasons. The problem is that they’re not personal enough. It is crucial to have YOUR PERSONAL INDIVIDUAL known reasons for learning Chinese because those are the only ones which will keep you motivated you through the long and occasionally difficult journey of learning Chinese. Also, having more specific reasons is way better. A person who’s motivation for learning Chinese is “I’d like to research the consequences of China’s Western Development project on ethnic minorities in XinJiang province” could have a easier time than someone who’s reason is “I love kung-pao chicken.”
Having specific outcomes for learning Chinese may also help you to learn Chinese a lot more efficiently. You see, if we think about the first three reasons given above, we’ll arrived at the realization they don’t address a few key questions that everyone should ask themselves when coming up with the decision to learn Chinese. In the coming days, we’ll cope with what these questions are and how exactly to answer them. Right now, we’ll just consider two questions in an effort to show how getting the right kinds of reasons might help a lot when learning Chinese:
1) “MUST I learn simplified characters or traditional characters?”
2) “Am I going to just learn conversational Chinese, or learn to read and write too?”
In case you have clearly established your individual known reasons for learning Chinese, answering these questions will undoubtedly be much easier, and considering these questions will ensure that your reasons will be the right ones for YOU. In this manner, your progress in learning Chinese will be much quicker.
Let’s consider the initial question. “I am interested in diaspora literature compiled by Taiwanese authors” might be your reason behind learning Chinese. Well, given that they utilize the traditional writing system in Taiwan you’ll most likely desire to learn traditional characters right away. Or your reason could be: “I want to look for a manufacturer of widgets in China without going through a middleman.” If this is your reason, learning traditional characters is probably not so crucial. Lots of people don’t really think about this question too carefully before deciding on which system to utilize when learning Chinese. With both systems, simplified and traditional, it’s rather a HUGE task to go back and re-study all of the characters in the other system. So making sure to think about this kind of question early on can really save you plenty of time.
It’s the same when you’re trying to decide if you intend to just learn “conversational Chinese” or if you need to learn to read and write the characters aswell. Lot’s of people are scared off by the thousands of Chinese characters and elect to stick with “conversational Chinese” and steer clear of learning the characters. learn Chinese pdf ‘d say that this is not a good decision for anyone who desires to achieve at the very least an intermediate degree of skill in spoken Chinese. It may be the right choice for a lot of though, in a number of limited cases. Like if you just want to impress friends and family by ordering a few dishes in Chinese at the local ‘Sichuan Palace.’ Whatever your decisions may become, having individual and thought-out goals can help you in making your choice.
These are just a couple of techniques having thought-out and personal reasons can help you on the path to learning Chinese. Lot’s of other questions should come up all the time. For those who have clear motivations for learning Chinese, you will be more likely to make the right choices according to your personal unique situation.