I want to learn base Chinese! But...

[LessReal]

Hi everyone!

I always loved learning new languages and cultures, so in my short life of eighteen years I managed to learn five languages (Italian, English, Classic Arab, Tunisia and Morocco languages) but recently I wanted to try learning Chinese because some of my favourite books are in Chinese.

Now the problem.

I find it extremely difficult to learn Chinese characters, because every time I try learning a new character and analyze its meaning, in my mind start sprouting the same word but in another five languages. So it gets really confusing.

If someone had the same problem as me and resolved it. Could you help me?

Thanks

[renzhe]

Do you mean that you get interference from the languages you already know? For example, mixing the languages?

I find that this tends to happen with languages I haven't mastered. Especially if I'm switching between them a lot. The better I know a language and the more "native" it is, the less likely it is to interfere with Chinese or some other language I'm learning.

You can try separating the languages -- concentrating on one language for a period of time (a month maybe), then another one. In general, learning several languages at once is more difficult than learning one at a time.

[daofeishi]

some of my favourite books are in Chinese. 

 

Just out of curiosity, since that isn't something I've heard many people say, do you mind sharing what books those are?