a question about your experience of learning Chinese

[huaxia]

Hi, guys. I want to ask a question: Do you feel "lonely" when you learn Chinese?

By lonely, I mean, sometimes you may want to practice Chinese with a friend, but you realize that all your friends do not study Chinese (they may study for example Spanish, French as their foreign language). For example, in Florida where I am, if you study Spanish, it'd be much easier to find someone to practice with. BTW, Is lonely the right word to describe a feeling like this or is there a better word?

Anyway, have you ever had this kind of feeling when studying Chinese? And what do you think you can do to change this kind of situation?

[chrix]

In a classroom situation, wouldn't you usually have classmates who study with you?

And if you're learning on your own, you could always try and find other people who are interested in the same language, there are meetups and so forth...

[renzhe]

Yes, I often do.

The forum here helps, and I've met a number of other learners by attending a local language exchange group for practicing Mandarin.

Your friends are unlikely to get as passionate about Chinese as you are. You have to seek out people who are, and there are some out there.

[huaxia]

to chrix, even in a formal educational setting, you sometimes may still wish to practice the language with people other than your classmates and your teachers, won't you?

To renzhe, I'm glad that you feel the forum here helps to some extent. That's why I'm planning on a project to introduce this forum to my students. Hope they will also find this useful in one way or another.

[chrix]

OK, you should have first explained that you're asking this as an instructor.

Well, not everyone thinks like that, every student has a different motivation for learning Chinese. Their classmates will be a kind of natural turning point for most, so I don't think most people will need more learner-to-learner exchange than that. What people want more often is more exchange with native speakers, not so much with learners outside of their classroom.

So these more "driven" people will look for other ways, trying out their Mandarin at Chinese restaurants (often fraught with failure), seeking out Chinese exchange students, going to local meetups, or turn to the internet. Some of these ways also would work for finding other learners. And this forum would be a good place for them, as it is full of learners eager to interact with other learners....

[huaxia]

To chrix: yes, I myself was very excited when I first found this forum. I didn't expect that such a place full of enthusiastic learners of Chinese existed.

BTW, is "lonely" the correct word to use for this situation or any other word could be more accurate?

[chrix]

I'd personally use the word "isolated"....

[huaxia]

hemmm, 好像是要比lonely更确切一些。 thanks for the suggestion, chrix.

[rezaf]

I have learned Chinese in Shanghai but even in here I never had a classmate who was really interested in speaking Chinese. In our class it was always like the Koreans spoke in Korean all the time and the other students in English. Anyway when I was a beginner (although I wanted the conversation to be in Chinese) even Chinese students spoke to me in English. It took me a long time to become fluent enough to prove them that it's easier to speak in Chinese with this Laowai Now that I'm studying for a degree it's much easier to communicate with Chinese students.

[doraemon]

When I first started to learn Chinese, I kind of felt lonely considering none of my friends wanted to and I was the only one, but my parents were always there to make sure I'm focused. Several years from then, I don't really mind anymore since my friends are still quite adamant about refusing to learn the language. I find pleasure in studying Chinese anyway, so it's already interesting in itself.

[889]

Studying Chinese is a pretty solitary endeavor, especially learning to read and write. Has anyone ever kept track of the hours and years spent -- alone -- writing and re-writing characters, thumbing through dictionaries, shuffling through flash cards?

It's not for everyone.

[Daan]

How very true, 889. I'd never really thought about that. All those afternoons in my room with a dictionary and a few pages of Chinese to read. But then I don't really mind a bit of silence every now and then, as long as I have a cup of tea to stay warm.

[gato]

The Loneliness of the Chinese Learner. A sequel to "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner", maybe?

[Hofmann]

Yes. Most of my productive study is alone. Studying with others definitely decreases efficiency although it's more interesting.

[tooironic]

To be honest I've never sought out non-native speakers of Chinese to practice with. But even if I did it wouldn't be too hard to find quite a few in any big city in the West. As for native speakers, well, they are everywhere in my home country. But all that aside, I don't consider speaking Chinese as a second language an isolating thing as it's one of the most important and widely spoken languages in the world. Perhaps if I was learning Hungarian, or Esperanto, or Catalan it would be a different story, but Chinese learners have no reason to complain IMO.

[HashiriKata]

it's one of the most important and widely spoken languages in the world. Perhaps if I was learning Hungarian, or Esperanto, or Catalan it would be a different story, but Chinese learners have no reason to complain IMO.

I agree. If you're generally pleasant and confident type of person, I don't think it's very difficult to have opportunities to speak Chinese. But of course, not all of us are like this. Before speaking to a stranger in Chinese, I tend to think twice, thrice... and then some more, until the person I'd like to speak to is no longer there

[JonBI]

Hi guys, this is my first post, but it will be one of many, I hope.

No, I do not feel lonely, though I study in classes, and then long hours on my own, as my memory seems to not be able to write characters without hours of practice (plus I only know how to write in traditional, which makes things tricky, and made things super tricky in the beginning).

I found that in the beginning it made me lonely, as it seemed everyone in the class was ahead of me, and I was struggling - of course, doing an intensive 600 characters in 3 months from not even knowing stroke order or pronunciation didn't help either.

By now, I find that there are people who I am comfortable studying with, and comfortable speaking to in Chinese, but also, there are those in the classroom who always tend to see university, no matter what course, as a direct competition between students, so that does take its toll on me some times, when I feel I need to work twice as hard as everybody to keep up - though lately I have been really keeping up, and have been one of the better students, as my visual memory finally seems to be working. So I guess it won't be so bad for long.

Plus, maybe next year, if things work out, I will study in China, so it perhaps will be better, in that I will be living the language, rather than experiencing it through a textbook in a library.

By the way, I am in the University of Toronto, where there happen to be a number of Chinese students, but the truth is, it seems learning Chinese is an oddity, and people, not to blame them, would rather speak/improve their English than struggle through my awful accent and non-existent vocabulary.

[Shi Tong]

I feel alone sometimes, but I dont think I feel lonely.. my wife and my kids speak a bit of Chinese, so it's easy to communicate with them if I want to in that language.

My favorite part of learning Chinese where I am is that there are no "white" learners of Mandarin around me, so when I go to somewhere where there are Chinese people, I can speak Mandarin and they will find it hilarious or surprising.. and I dont know anyone else in the UK (YET) who speaks Mandarin!

BTW- Welcome JonBl:mrgreen:

[Meng Lelan]

My favorite part of learning Chinese where I am is that there are no "white" learners of Mandarin around me, so when I go to somewhere where there are Chinese people, I can speak Mandarin and they will find it hilarious or surprising

That's actually my most unfavorite part of learning Chinese. I do not like it at all that they would find it hilarious or surprising or amusing or something like that. I wish they would be like the French, you know, get angry if I don't speak Chinese or be irritated if I mess up my Chinese. Or expect me to speak Chinese like this is completely normal.

[Daan]

Oh, Meng Lelan, how recognisable. I was at Taipingshan today, where you'd expect they see more than one foreigner a year, but I was still harassed for quite a while by some of the people there. And it's just like you say: you'd never get that in France. I can understand why the Chinese feel the need to comment on your Mandarin, but please, can we not spend half an hour talking about that?