how many words does a person need to survive?

[civic94]

Im abc, i know cantonese and english, cant read and write chinese. so far this past year i have been trying to learn mandarin through Cantonese words (I think and talk in cantoense first, english second). there are quite a few dead given words that is similar from Cantonese to mandarin, so that helped.

anyways, when I watch a mandarin soap opera, i can understand about 40%, but my speaking skills is bad. it takes time for me to puzzle in cantonese/english and then turn it over to mandarin to speak it. i know you guys will tell me to learn mandarin by looking at words, but i have to work and on my days off im busy. I usually play the lessons on my ipod or in my car, so i can squeeze time for me to learn.

so far I understand a vocab of about 350 or so, my speaking has an american/cantonese accent in it (depends on what word). I think if i can get another 150-200 i should be ok when I visit china in a year, but still i want to learn as much as i can. do you guys think having around 400-500 words is enough to survive?

[anonymoose]

Many foreigners manage to survive on no Chinese at all, so is 500 words enough to survive? Yes. But it's not going to get you very far.

Really, 400-500 words isn't very much. Some people are learning 50 per day. Even at 20 per day, which is more reasonable, that's only 20-25 days work. Since you still have a year before you go, you could realistically get 4000-5000 words down, and since you know Cantonese, I suspect it would be easier for you than for most learners.

Of course, that's all assuming you want to become proficient in Mandarin, and not just reach a survival level.

[Koxinga]

If your goal is simply survival and not proficiency, a good phrasebook would save you a lot of time and effort.

[civic94]

Really, 400-500 words isn't very much. Some people are learning 50 per day. Even at 20 per day, which is more reasonable, that's only 20-25 days work. Since you still have a year before you go, you could realistically get 4000-5000 words down, and since you know Cantonese, I suspect it would be easier for you than for most learners.

when I say i understand about 350 words or so, it means that i truely know what it means, without thinking. when you say some people learn 50 per day, maybe they forget about it or take time to process it. for me, i try to learn 10 a week, but i will understand 2 a week completely, and the other 8, i will hear it on tv, and I have to think hard to remember what the meaning was. its all in repetition.

well if i add numbers, colors, and overlap difficult words from cantonese, i guess i already know 500 already lol.

[anonymoose]

But 2 a week is just over 100 per year. At that rate, you'd take 50 years to reach HSK level 6 (based on the official requirement).

[civic94]

But 2 a week is just over 100 per year. At that rate, you'd take 50 years to reach HSK level 6 (based on the official requirement).

I think my cantonese is at around 1500 words or so, i can understand 100% when i watch movies (thats actually how i learned canteonse as a kid). but, if i watch a Cantonese news broadcast in a HK channel, i can only understand less than 50% because of the higher vocabulary and the speed they talk. I can talk to people in cantonese, go to a resturaunt. but if i went to college in say, HK, I will be left behind.

I think if i can reach about 800 words i should be ok, i mean, im not going to china to be a doctor. other than eating, finding a place, have a simple conversation, it should be fine, unless its not enough if people here say so

when I watch a mandarin movie, on some sentences, i will know maybe 3 words out of 10, but i will get the idea whats going on because of those 3 words. If i can get to about 60% of understanding i will be happy.

[kdavid]

No source available, but I heard 2,500 is required for basic proficiency.

The key here is that you don't need to know how to say specifically, "He defenestrated the diminutive durian." Instead, knowing "He threw the small fruit out the window" suffices.

In other words, if you can establish a basic foundation, and use that to illustrate your meaning, you'll be fine.

[gato]

He through the fruit through the window on the throughway. ;-)

[hackinger]

Hi,

you could take the traditional route and use the New Practical Chinese Reader to study Chinese. After Volume 1 you will know 400 words, after Volume 2 about 800 words, after Volume 3 about 1500 words and after volume 4 over 2000 words. You could stop whenever you think you know enough. With your Cantonese you could go through Volume 1 rather quickly and then use say 2-3 months for Volume 2 and so on. The books use Chinese characters though for the Chinese texts, only in Volume 1 Pinyin is also written above the characters. Volume 2 has just the tones in addition to the characters. Later volumes only use characters for the Chinese text.

Personally I think the fun starts with 1500 words. I also believe that one needs to know way more than 1500 words to watch a movie and understand everything.

Cheers

hackinger

[abcdefg]

do you guys think having around 400-500 words is enough to survive?

As alluded to above, a lot depends on which 500 words you learn.

[kdavid]

He through the fruit through the window on the throughway. ;-)

Doh! What use is a prodigious lexicon when one cannot even spell correctly?

Case in point! Grandiloquent verbiage only engenders obscurantist tendencies!

We should all strive only for a vocabulary of 50 words!

[Lu]

To survive you really only need the words 你会说英语吗 (repeat to various persons until someone says yes) and 救命啊. For more ease in getting around, I think it might be more useful to decide what you want to be able to say and learn those words, instead of studying from tv series. Not much use in knowing how to say 'He broke my heart' but not 'Where is the bathroom'. The phrasebook suggestion was good, if you know pinyin you can just pick the chapters you think will be useful and learn a few words or a sentence every day.

That is for short-term travel Chinese. If you want to really learn Mandarin, I suggest approaching it as a new language and not just a variant of Cantonese, and pay attention to tones (especially the fourth), pronunciation and grammar from the beginning. You have a big advantage over non-Chinese-speaking learners in learning vocab and also some advantage in grammar and knowing what tones are, but there are also differences that you might be in danger of overlooking and which may result in Mandarin speakers straining to understand you at the best of times. Some people manage to just pick it up, but many don't.

[holfeld]

I think 100 phrases is enough to survive like Hello (Ni hao), Thank You (Xie Xie), Where is the restroom, Where is a shopping center etc.

If you know ho to ask for food, bed & restroom thats all you need to survive, right? :-)