Studying Chinese includes careful attention to tones, Chinese characters and a good textbook. Though these are issues than many people learning Chinese struggle with, some sound advice can go a long way.
Chinese Tones Are Important
In Chinese, a word might have the same pronunciation depending on its tone. This means that the syllable ma might mean “mother,” “horse” or “to scold,” all depending on the tone. Chinese has a large amount of homophony. The pronunciation of many words is exactly the same; it’s only the intonation that differs.
Because English is a toneless language, many students make the mistake of not paying enough attention to the tones in Chinese. Don’t fall into this trap. Tones are essential to speaking the language correctly and the sooner you start practicing them, the easier it will be for you later down the road.
Chinese Characters
To outsiders, a Chinese character is a random assortment of lines and dots without meaning. To the trained eye, however, it is a picture jam-packed with information and meaning. Chinese characters are anything but random; they are composed of various set patterns, a particular order for writing each stroke and even clues as to the character’s meaning and pronunciation.
To be considered fully literate you must be able to read thousands of characters. The task of memorizing thousands of characters may seem daunting to a brand new student, but it is advisable for those serious about mastering the language to dive head-first into learning how to read and write. There are several important reasons for this. First of all, true Chinese proficiency requires reading skills. Since colloquial spoken language and formal written language contain some major differences in word choice, syntax and style, it’s best to get an early start, or else you’ll have to do some major catch-up later on.
The second reason, which is too often overlooked, is the encouragement one gets from being able to read and write, even just a little. The praise you’ll get from both Chinese people and other foreigners will go a long way toward keeping you motivated in the early parts of your study.
Chinese Learning Textbook
A textbook is important for any foreign language learner, and this is doubly so for an especially tricky language like Chinese. There are heaps of poorly written and poorly edited Chinese textbooks and learning materials. Others are good enough but don’t really address the needs of the learner, instead focusing on peripheral vocabulary and less useful grammatical structures in the beginning.
There is no magic resource that will make learning Chinese easy, but a few are high-quality and easy to use. Be careful when picking your study materials: make sure they accomplish your own personal goals. For example, if you just want to study how to order in a restaurant for your next trip to China, don’t get a book about how to read Tang Dynasty poems! With careful attention to the tones of Chinese, diligent work studying Chinese characters and a good Chinese textbook to work with, you're well on your way to mastering the language.
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