Learning useless words?

[lilongyue]

Hi y'all,

I'm in my second semester (level 3) at Zhejiang University, in Hangzhou. I wanted to ask those of you who are also studying Chinese in uni (or have finished their studies) about some of the vocabulary we learn. I'm sure we're all using the same books, the ones from Beijing (the grammar and listening books are blue and white). I know that some of the words are a bit antiquated, like 马马虎虎, and responding to a compliment by saying "哪里哪里." But what about the words we are told aren't used in everyday, spoken Chinese? I spoke to a translator friend of mine who learned Chinese 40 years ago about 几乎, and he said you do encounter it when reading, but it isn't used much in spoken Chinese. My grammar teacher told me that it wasn't used in 口语, and when I asked her about it being used in texts she said, "Well, since Chinese write like they speak now, you won't see it often." But my friend said that isn't true. So, for those of you at higher levels than me, what do you think? How much of the vocabulary that we learn is actually useful?

[muyongshi]

"Well, since Chinese write like they speak now, you won't see it often."

Well that's a lie...They write more like the speak now then they did oh, say 50 years ago but there is still very clear distinctions. Also it depends on what you are writing. If writing a blog it will be closer to spoken than say a letter of employment.

If you think you won't use a word my advice is to just store it in your mental filing cabinet because chances are good that you will use it or at least run into it. That is how I do it and so far I haven't been disappointed. Also for me I learn some Beijing spoken things but they are not used in Sichuan very much so I do the same. Store it up for tests or trips to the north, but will also see it in reading. Even if you think there is no use- learn it. You never know when you will wish you had spent the time learning it.

There are exceptions but this is a good general rule. Unless you like just random bits of useless information then you can learn everything

[hamihaha]

几乎 is often used in oral I think...

Almost everybody went : 几乎所有人都去了！

[muyongshi]

I would think that 差不多 is more 口语 than 几乎 although I do hear 几乎 used a lot but not as much. And in the example you used I think even more oral would be to say 大部分的人 or 大多数人都去了.

[trevelyan]

The BCLU texts are OK, but if you want to be learning colloquial Chinese you should be exposing yourself to more practical Chinese.

[lilongyue]

It's true, the books aren't really enough. My wife is Chinese, and we're speaking only Chinese now. It helps a lot. I myself haven't heard 几乎 spoken much since I learned it. My wife said it's used in spoken Chinese, but I don't remember ever hearing her say it, haha.

[atitarev]

I agree with Moyongshi.

My approach is - if a word/character appears in the textbook for foreigners - focus on it, learn it, at least to recognise. The more you read, the more you filter out words that are used less often. I have a few discussions about words that are not used in spoken Chinese but they are, if not in spoken, then in written.

哪里,哪里; 您过奖了;我不敢当

Before, when I just started with Chinese, I had the same feeling and desire to concentrate on the MOST useful words and expressions in Chinese, since learning new characters requires so much time and effort. So, your question, Lilongyue, makes sense to me.

[muyongshi]

It's true, the books aren't really enough. My wife is Chinese, and we're speaking only Chinese now. It helps a lot.

Hopefully all learners will know this. Books can never ever cover everything and I would have to say that a good percentage (hard to say a concrete number but for all you concrete's out there oh 30%) of my learning has been outside of either books, class, or a dictionary.

[Josh2007]

几乎 may be more written Chinese, but it is still quite often heard in oral Chinese. It depends on the style of a person's speech. An educated person will use more of such words. There are very colloquial words; more formal words that an educated person might use in speech (such as 几乎); and also very literary words that simply would not be understood in speech. This isn't one of them. I was told by a Chinese friend that saying揩拭instead of 擦was unlikely to be understood by most ordinary people in China.

[zozzen]

As far as i remember, I haven't said "几乎" in putonghua (i say "差不多"), but the word is very frequently used in Cantonese.

[muyongshi]

Well I here it used every now and again and I read it a lot as well as it has been taught in pretty much all of the books I've studied so....