Learning both spoken and written simultaneously?

[Hello Kitty]

Is it a good idea to learn to speak Chinese first and then move onto learning how to read it? I'm currently learning to speak Mandarin, but I'm not learning how to write characters (I can read some pinyin), I've assumed I'd start learning to read it when I'm better at speaking.

What are others' experiences with this? Have you found that it's better to learn at the same time, or separately?

[Don_Horhe]

It depends on what your goal is - to be able to communicate on a basic level and showing your friends you can speak Chinese OR you are serious about learning the language and you want to go beyond "How much does this cost?" "OK, give me 2 and a discount."

If it's the former, you could do without learning any characters at all. If it's the latter, though, I suggest you learn things at the same time - character, pronunciation and meaning.

[character]

If you don't learn to read while learning to speak, you will encounter a lot of words which are hard to tell apart because the sounds are quite similar, but they use different characters.

Honestly, recognizing the characters is one of the easiest parts of learning Chinese, esp. at the beginning. Writing them (esp from memory) is harder, but that can be put off.

[KaerH]

I've found that if you are particularly good at mimicking what you hear, and you would rather speak and don't care much about reading writing, then focus on that for as long as you like, it will make it easyer to attatch characters to words you already know then learning it all at once. I think the hardest things of the Mandarin language for a native English speaker are the characters (there are quite a lot to remember) and the pronunciation of words, if you rather speak and take your time learning then focus on the pinyin (especially remembering the tones) and make sure to master tongue placement along with the tones early on.

If you want to read and write just as much as speaking, I suggest you do it all at the same time, at your own pace. It all depends on what you want, and what your skills are. I'm personally good at pronunciation (it did take me some time) now that I'm close to mastering the tones, and have all the sounds correct I'm starting to focus more on reading and writing, and I'm finding it a lot easier than I did when I tried in the beginning because I have something to attach to the character, a word's sound and its tone.

Check out a blog called Sinosplice, he has some interesting articles that would probably be better at answering your questions.

[renzhe]

Is it a good idea to learn to speak Chinese first and then move onto learning how to read it? I'm currently learning to speak Mandarin, but I'm not learning how to write characters (I can read some pinyin), I've assumed I'd start learning to read it when I'm better at speaking.

I personally think that this is a feasible strategy if you live in China.

If you live abroad and are learning Chinese as a hobby, it probably won't work for very long. The absence of aural exposure will make learning Chinese difficult unless you have some other modes of input, such as written language.

In general, I notice that people who learn Chinese outside of China have comparatively good reading skills, while people learning Chinese in China are more conversational although some of them can't read at all. Not a general rule, but I've observed it with a number of people. Learning Chinese in Europe means you're basically condemned to reading a lot.

[abcdefg]

The absence of aural exposure will make learning Chinese difficult unless you have some other modes of input, such as written language.

I've also found this to be true. When I'm in China, speaking Chinese every day, learning is easy, fast and fun. But my reading skills are poor and consequently when I return to the US to work, it's hard to maintain momentum.

Wish I'd tackled reading earlier in the learning process. My program was unbalanced and now I'm scrambling to correct the deficit.

Edited November 11, 2009 at 09:42 PM by abcdefg

[dillon1530]

My advice is to seriously concentrate on improving your spoken Chinese first: get the tones and pronunciation down pat and get a good feel for the natural flow of the language. Aside from practicing with native speakers as much as possible, you can do this by listening to tapes and reading outloud. That will not only help your spoken Chinese, but you'll start to be able to recognize characters as well. Once you start reading, your vocabulary will expand significantly. Keep in mind, though, that unless you're practicing using your new vocabulary, the speaking and reading skills you've acquired won't ever come together in a way that will improve your Chinese overall. Hope that helps!

[taylor04]

master pinyin pronunciation and the tones, you'll need a chinese person to help you on this. after you got that down, I'd recommend learning both at the same time, but you could do either one, but this way when you get the basics down, it creates the foundation regardless of your goal. Tones are something you want to get good at and try to remember, but when you speak, you just need to speak fluently using tones as much as possible. But you don't need to get every tone right, you will learn certain words like chou, 4th tone is smelly and 3rd tone is ugly, words like these can be confusing without the right tone, but most of the conversation wont be. Another good example is mai, 3rd tone is buy and 4th tone is sell, and can easily lead to confusion.

[Hello Kitty]

Thanks for all your replies! I already have an understanding of the tones and pronounciation (I'm v. worried about getting these wrong, so this is what I focus on most). I guess this means I'll try to learn to read simultaneously, then, since that's what most have reccomended.

As people have asked, I am studying in Europe, from tapes (well, CDs and mp3, since we're in the 21st century) and books and anything I can find. I'm serious about learning it, I want to become fluent. I know basic things, like how to order in a bar, talk about the weather, invite people places, where is the bank, where did I leave my coat, etc. I've been studying properly for a couple of months, but have always been interested in the language.

[renzhe]

In that case, a combined approach is probably what you want. Probably, because no two people are alike.

Definitely keep up the listening (don't forget to check out the useful resources here on the site), but also start learning the most common characters and words and try reading some simple stuff.

Actually, if you're not following a textbook, that's another useful thing to do, because of grammar explanations and because generally textbooks tend to be structured better than audio sources.

[taylor04]

Well if you want to learn simultaneously, make sure to get a tutor or something for the pronunciation part. I can't stress how important pronunciation is in the beginning. If you master pinyin you can teach yourself new words without fear of making mistakes