Learn Foreign Languages

Twenty years ago, there might be people who couldn’t speak Mandarin in some places of South China. But now Mandarin has been publicized throughout China due to the Chinese government policy. Even all minorities speak standard Mandarin other than Han Nationality which is the majority.

Elderly people communicate with each other in Shenzhen, which is located in Guangdong Province which is the Cantonese speaking community. This appalled me when I came to Shenzhen for the first time. In my opinion, English as a global language has far less success in this term because oral Chinese is surprisingly simply.

Spoken Chinese has nothing like we call “grammatical rules”. There are no ending changes to verbs, nouns, and adjectives. You don’t have to worry about plural, either.

Some people say that they have different words for “yes” and “no” to answer question. But it is far from difficult. To ask a question in Chinese, you show both of the alternatives. For example, “Will you go?” becomes “You go not go?” or “Will you go or not?” If you will go, the word for “yes” to that question is “go.” If you will not go, you say “Not go.” Likewise, “Will you play?” becomes “You play not play?” if translated literally. To say “yes,” you answer “Play.” To answer “No”, you say, “Not play.”

There’s a “middle language” that is critical to Chinese mastery. It’s actually a shortcut other than a detour that requires you to master two languages to learn just one. English is the middle language. Just literally say the English words and nothing more, you are on the right way. For example, “Do you have my pencil?” is ‘You have I-belong pencil, no have?” in middle language. “The man who lives in the white house” becomes “Live in white house-belong man.”