What is a realistic timetable for learning Chinese?

[Darryncosta]

I'm currently debating on whether to learn chinese or spanish at the moment. I'm very interested in Chinese, and i feel that it would be significantly more useful over the long run given the current population of China, however i'm wondering if i can make any noticeable progress over the next year.

All the resources i've read have pointed out that there is a significant learning curve between English/Chinese and i'm just wondering if I could conceivably learn enough to carry on a reasonably broken conversation by 2013 (as i'm sure i could do with the spanish language).

I know it's not a race, but I also don't want to be still at a beginner's level three years from now. What would you consider a reasonable expectation for Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced/Expert conversational skill in Mandarin Chinese (Reading/Speaking)?

[edelweis]

1 hour ago, Darryncosta said:

i'm just wondering if I could conceivably learn enough to carry on a reasonably broken conversation by 2013

unlikely ? unless you have a time machine.

 

But, yes, for an English speaker, Chinese is significantly more difficult to learn than Spanish.

What kind of study schedule would you have? (there's a whole range between 20 contact hours per week at a Chinese university to 1.5 or 2 hours per week of hobby type classes in your home country).

 

[agewisdom]

5 hours ago, Darryncosta said:

I'm very interested in Chinese, and i feel that it would be significantly more useful over the long run given the current population of China, however i'm wondering if i can make any noticeable progress over the next year.

 

1. Do you have any Chinese friends or friends interested in learning Chinese together with you? I.e. attending part time classes?

2. Are you interested or already immersed in Chinese culture or history, even in the passing. E.g. familiar with Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Chinese kung fu movies, TV series etc?

3. How much time are you planning to spend on it on a CONSISTENT basis daily?

 

The key to learning Chinese (just started 3 months back) is that you need to be consistent. It's so easy to start strong like 2++ hours daily when you see a lot of progress. Unfortunately, about 2 months in, you'll start to lose momentum. Why? 

 

1. You'll find all the characters you've learnt are now like a heavy backpack that's slowing you down. You need to periodically revise all these characters you've learnt. Not only how to write and recognize. But also to listen and pronounce it as well.

2. Real life start kicking in. You start getting somewhat bored and dragging your feet. At times like this, the bare minimum of say EVEN 30 minutes seem like an immeasurably mundane chore that you can't wait for it to be over. Trust me, you'll definitely feel this unless you're abnormal. Why am I doing this in the first place, you might ask yourself.

 

The reason I ask questions 1 & 2 earlier is that you MUST have strong motivation to learn Chinese. Companionship goes along way to help you through the tough times when you just want to give up. Secondly, if you're already familiar with Chinese culture, history or stories, it helps you to settle in a lot faster.

 

Hopefully, you'll find this helpful.

[Flickserve]

https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/sls/c78549.htm

 

category four for Chinese. 

 

Whatever you can fit 2200 hours into.

 

 

 

 

[Flickserve]

7 hours ago, Darryncosta said:

I could conceivably learn enough to carry on a reasonably broken conversation by 2013 (as i'm sure i could do with the spanish language).

I know it's not a race, but I also don't want to be still at a beginner's level three years from now.

 

Did the mods only just approve this thread from 2010?

[anonymoose]

15 hours ago, Darryncosta said:

All the resources i've read have pointed out that there is a significant learning curve between English/Chinese and i'm just wondering if I could conceivably learn enough to carry on a reasonably broken conversation by 2013

 

If you learn faster than the speed of light, it may be possible.

[agewisdom]

2013... eh... My mind auto-corrected this to 2023

[Jabri]

Hi @Darryncosta ! I have been learning Chinese for about 2 years and 7 months now. Over that period of time, I spent an approximate 2-3 hours learning Chinese everyday. In terms of reading and writing, I would say that everything start to become 'easier'(or stable?) once you reach a solid HSK 5 level. While speaking and listening however can't be measured just based on your HSK level.

 

You can reach HSK 5 within 7 months-1 year but at the expense of your speaking ability.

[david387]

I have studied for a little over 3 years. I would say I was able to carry on a decent conversation starting maybe 1 year ago (more than just basics) . Now I am at a point where I am very comfortable talking with Chinese people who don't any speak English. I have averaged more than 3 hours per day. Ideally you need to find a way to make Chinese a fun part of your life. Then it is easy to reach your goal in a couple of years. It is a great challenge, but totally possible.

[DavyJonesLocker]

On 12/26/2018 at 12:35 AM, Jabri said:

 

You can reach HSK 5 within 7 months-1 year but at the expense of your speaking ability.

 

That is very unlikely . I think there are  too many exaggerated claims on internet.  It's very counterproductive. I never met these people in real life and I met a lot of Chinese learners in Beijing. 

 

Not saying it can't happen but the chances are low and learners need to be aware of that

[Jabri]

@DavyJonesLocker I'm not exaggerating. I have met 2 Vietnamese and 2 Japanese that took HSK 5 within 8 months - 1 year while I was in China. But their speaking ability is a little bit behind.

[edelweis]

@Jabri do you know which school they attended? I assume they studied full-time at a university or a private school ?

[Wurstmann]

@edelweis If I remember correctly, for HSK5 you only need about 2500 words. That's easily attainable in one year. The grammar is also doable. When I took it, I wrote down the simplest of sentences and still passed.  I think a lot of people believe HSK5 is some kind of indicator of good Chinese skills, because it's the second highest level after all. I'd argue after HSK5 is where the learning and mastery of the language really begins; it marks the transition between beginner and intermediate. As @Jabri mentioned above, reading and listening gets significantly easier at the HSK5 level.

Speaking however is an entirely different beast. When I passed HSK5 I couldn't really talk at all. ?

[fabiothebest]

5 hours ago, Jabri said:

2 Vietnamese

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-easy-for-a-Vietnamese-to-learn-to-Mandarin

5 hours ago, Jabri said:

2 Japanese

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji

[Alex_Hart]

18 hours ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

That is very unlikely . I think there are  too many exaggerated claims on internet.  It's very counterproductive. I never met these people in real life and I met a lot of Chinese learners in Beijing. 

 

 

6 hours ago, Wurstmann said:

@edelweis If I remember correctly, for HSK5 you only need about 2500 words. That's easily attainable in one year. The grammar is also doable. When I took it, I wrote down the simplest of sentences and still passed.  I think a lot of people believe HSK5 is some kind of indicator of good Chinese skills, because it's the second highest level after all. I'd argue after HSK5 is where the learning and mastery of the language really begins; it marks the transition between beginner and intermediate. As @Jabri mentioned above, reading and listening gets significantly easier at the HSK5 level.

 

 

3 hours ago, fabiothebest said:

9 hours ago, Jabri said:

2 Vietnamese

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-easy-for-a-Vietnamese-to-learn-to-Mandarin

9 hours ago, Jabri said:

2 Japanese

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji

I agree with Wurstmann. I met many, many, many students who got to HSK 5 in one year while doing a year abroad in China, including people who don't have an Asian language background. I have also met many students who didn't get to HSK 5 even after 4-5 years of Chinese learning. If you're studying Chinese fulltime in a language intensive and are focusing on your characters and listening, I see no reason why HSK 5 isn't attainable in one year. Like Wurstmann says, you can write very simple sentences in the writing section. 

 

But we're all touching on the same thing here: whether or not you can actually use Chinese has almost nothing to do with HSK so it isn't a good metric. It is a test. I have met many Chinese students who passed TOEFL or the GRE reading section but I can barely understand their English. It is the same with the HSK. I have a Korean classmate who passed HSK 6 and yet I would classify him as somewhere around level 1 for spoken Chinese; he can barely communicate at all, even things like "how are you" can throw him for a loop. I am not sure he even knows what tones are because he doesn't use them at all from what I can tell. He can read and understand far better than I can, but he cannot write or speak. Most of my classmates have passed HSK 5 and yet some are able to handle virtually any conversation in Chinese ranging from politics to TV dramas while others struggle with basic conversations.  

 

I don't have an answer for OP. I think this is going to depend on too many things for us to give you an answer. If you're in China, in a quality language course, spend most of your time with Chinese people who don't speak much English, have 1-on-1 lessons and spend a lot of time studying, you can improve extremely fast. You'll be conversational in a year, probably. If you're abroad and studying in a challenging language course, or in China/Taiwan and studying but have mostly foreign friends, I don't doubt that your characters/reading will improve very quickly, but that doesn't mean you'll understand a word once you get to China and start hearing regional accents or, god forbid, people over 50. Maybe you'll have great pronunciation but will speak so slowly that locals get annoyed and give up. I have often heard people say something along the lines of "Before I came to China, I thought I could speak Chinese." Not to say that you shouldn't learn Chinese: persistence, time and exposure will get you there.

[agewisdom]

14 hours ago, Wurstmann said:

If I remember correctly, for HSK5 you only need about 2500 words. That's easily attainable in one year. The grammar is also doable. When I took it, I wrote down the simplest of sentences and still passed.  I think a lot of people believe HSK5 is some kind of indicator of good Chinese skills, because it's the second highest level after all. I'd argue after HSK5 is where the learning and mastery of the language really begins; it marks the transition between beginner and intermediate.

 

Now you dashed my dreams of being fluent in Chinese. ?

HSK5 is ONLY the end of the beginner stage? Sigh...

 

Although it's kinda of true though. I finished learning HSK Level 1 and 2 characters and it seems I've hardly made a dent in the amount of characters I need to know to be able to converse in Mandarin. Not sure why the HSK Levels are so, dare I say dumbed down(?), or rather simplified...

 

 @Wurstmann In your opinion, how many words does a person need to know to reach the end of the intermediate stage? 5000 characters? How long does it take to reach that stage from NIL? Just your opinion or gut feeling only. I just want a general idea.

[amytheorangutan]

If you are not in China you need to go slow and steady in my opinion and you need to be realistic about your goals and interest in Chinese culture is crucial. It also depends whether you are a student, working part time or full time. For me language is a long term endeavour so with my full time work and other commitments, my long term goal is to be able to read 2500 characters at least in 3 years and able to watch modern Chinese dramas without subs. I do about 30 mins - 1 hour of study everyday and 2 hours a week class, this doesn't include watching Chinese youtube videos, songs, dramas that I count as entertainment rather than study time.

[Wurstmann]

4 hours ago, agewisdom said:

In your opinion, how many words does a person need to know to reach the end of the intermediate stage? 5000 characters? How long does it take to reach that stage from NIL? Just your opinion or gut feeling only. I just want a general idea.

 

I don't know, I still haven't reached it xD

You don't need 5000 characters. 3000 should be enough (see here). But you shouldn't learn characters in isolation anyway (except maybe for writing), learn words instead.

 

[Flickserve]

4 hours ago, agewisdom said:

Although it's kinda of true though. I finished learning HSK Level 1 and 2 characters and it seems I've hardly made a dent in the amount of characters I need to know to be able to converse in Mandarin. Not sure why the HSK Levels are so, dare I say dumbed down(?), or rather simplified...

 

 

You need:

A) words to make up your own sentences

B) passive vocabulary (+ relevant listening skills) to understand what people are saying to you

 

B is greater than A.

No listening skills = no comprehension. Even if you knew 3000 words, but had a paucity of listening skills, your perfect mandarin pronunciation and grammar won't help you.

[Jabri]

@edelweis We all took the language class at Ocean university of China(OUC), Qingdao, Shandong. Our classes were from 8 a.m - 12 p.m. Yeah the one Japanese guy was actually sent by his company to learn Chinese and after we finish our classes in OUC, in the afternoon he'll continue his class at another private mandarin school. That's a bit hectic schedule to me. While the other 2 Vietnamese, they were under pressure due to the requirement of their undergraduate program which require them to pass HSK 5 before starting their undergraduate studies in the next semester.