Have I mentioned Chinese is hard to learn? Tens of thousands of words made up from thousands of characters. Once you know how to say the characters, now form complete thoughts with them. Otherwise, Chinese sounds like this:
I’ve come to realize a few things about how people learn Chinese. To varying degrees, I have personal experience with all of the below.
1. Many foreign guys studying Chinese in Taiwan develop a quasi-feminine accent. A) Taiwan Chinese is softer and lighter on tones than mainland Chinese, and B) Most teachers are women, so you pick up feminine speech patterns — just another reason learning Chinese is hard.
2. If you have a Chinese girlfriend, you might inadvertently double down on these habits. Chinese is not quite gender-neutral. You need to learn Chinese outside the classroom.
3. Learning Chinese outside Asia might be toughest. There are great advantages to being in Asia. Even if you earn a masters degree in the U.S. and pick up 3,000 characters, you might not know the correct pronunciation or use case. Vocabulary is only the beginning! Comprehension is the goal.
