How long does it take to learn Mandarin Chinese?

[happy_hyaena]

21 hours ago, Wurstmann said:

I think the problem with self-learners is, that it takes most of us a lot longer to put in a comparable amount of time. As a result a lot of people's motivation wavers which leads to even less time being used for studying. 

 

I think there are a lot of factors influencing this. I will say that while I am happy with the progress I made, the classroom experience was not always that great. I had some pretty cool classmates, but we were more than a dozen, leaving little time for individual speaking time. The biggest benefits were to my listening skills, and with providing me with a focus that I had sorely been lacking. During our lessons we used Chinese only, and my teacher in Comprehensive Chinese in particular would speak blazingly fast, faster than the average native might speak, albeit using vocabulary for our level. I was the happiest studying by myself, however, as well as when watching videos on Bilibili or chatting with my Chinese friends. I tried iTalki once and that was pretty great as well. The classroom felt definitely like a chore in the end, but it did help in making me wake up for class at 8 am every morning.

The biggest problem that many self-learners face is time. Chinese is a hobby for me, and my "real" major is in engineering. Taking a semester off to go to China and study Chinese 100% is completely different to having to try to make time for Chinese after my other studies and activities. The second problem is of course the lack of focus and mindset that a self-learner might have - there's no one there to plan out your learing for you. This semester has given me a very solid base in Chinese, as well as helped prepare me for how I should go about learning Chinese in the future. I also feel like I had wasted a lot of time during my time spent self-learning up until before this semester. If I knew back then what I know now, I could've come MUCH further in Chinese in the same time span. Oh well.

[Lumbering Ox]

On 2017-06-30 at 9:44 PM, Wurstmann said:

I think the FSI numbers are 2200 hours spent in class plus the same spent studying at home. 

 

I've read 25 hours a week in class and 3 to 4 hours a night. Assuming weekends off [My impression right or wrong] that would be 5 hours of class and 3 to 4 hours of study. That is why I assume .7 times of self study.