Whether you are just starting your studies of Oriental or have been studying for a while, it’s of great importance that you’re conscious of your motivations for wanting to learn the language. The more clearly defined your motivations for learning Chinese, the better you will end up at reaching Your own goals. Sure, learn Chinese pdf may well be saying, “I already have reasons for learning Chinese.” You may even have a few apparently known reasons for learning Chinese, such as:
“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’re fine reasons. The thing is that they’re not personal enough. It is crucial to have YOUR PERSONAL INDIVIDUAL known reasons for learning Chinese because those will be the only ones that will keep you motivated you during 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” will have a easier time than someone who’s reason is “I like kung-pao chicken.”
Having specific outcomes for learning Chinese will also enable you to learn Chinese much 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 deal with what these questions are and how to answer them. At this time, we’ll just consider two questions as a way to show how getting the right kinds of reasons can help a whole lot when learning Chinese:
1) “MUST I learn simplified characters or traditional characters?”
2) “Am I likely 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 make sure that your reasons are the right ones for YOU. In this manner, your progress in learning Chinese will undoubtedly be much quicker.
Let’s consider the initial question. “I am interested in diaspora literature written by Taiwanese authors” may be your reason for learning Chinese. Well, given that they use the traditional writing system in Taiwan you will most likely desire to learn traditional characters from the start. Or your reason may be: “I want to find a manufacturer of widgets in China without going right through a middleman.” If this is your reason, learning traditional characters may not be so crucial. Many people don’t really think concerning this question too carefully before making a decision on which system to utilize when learning Chinese. With both systems, simplified and traditional, it can be a HUGE task to return and re-study all the characters in another system. So making sure to think about this kind of question early on can really save you a HUGE amount of time.
It’s the same when you’re trying to decide if you want to just learn “conversational Chinese” or if you need to learn to read and write the characters as well. Lot’s of individuals are scared off by the a large number of Chinese characters and elect to stick with “conversational Chinese” and prevent learning the characters. I would say that this isn’t a good decision for anyone who desires to achieve at least an intermediate degree of skill in spoken Chinese. It can be the right choice for some people 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.’ Regardless of what your decisions may end up being, having individual and thought-out goals can assist 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 will come up all the time. If you have clear motivations for learning Chinese, you will be more likely to make the correct choices according to your own unique situation.