{"id":189,"date":"2017-02-08T23:56:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T23:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/?p=189"},"modified":"2021-04-03T02:54:08","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T02:54:08","slug":"how-hard-is-it-for-kids-to-learn-chinese-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/08\/how-hard-is-it-for-kids-to-learn-chinese-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hard is it for Kids to Learn Chinese? Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kristina Klausen, MBA and Mingyu Sun, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/span><\/p>\n

Chinese has a reputation of being a tough language to learn, but have you ever wondered why that is? Nearly a billion people in the world speak Mandarin Chinese<\/a> \u2013 so clearly learning it is possible. However, if you\u2019re a parent thinking about having your children learn Mandarin as a second language, you probably want to know more about whether Mandarin Chinese is a hard language for kids to learn. <\/span><\/p>\n

What might surprise you is that, in some ways, Mandarin is easier to learn than English. In this article we\u2019ll take a linguistic perspective and look at what makes Mandarin easier to learn than you might think and, in Part Two<\/a> we\u2019ll look at what makes Mandarin challenging.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Counting is easier<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In Mandarin, once you can count to 10, you can count to 99. The word for 11 is simply ten-one. The word for 21 is two-ten-one, and this logical pattern continues to 99. To get to 100, you\u2019ll need a new word, b\u01cei,<\/em> for hundred. So 11 different number words let you get all the way to 999. And you\u2019ll need only 13 words to get all the way to 99,999,999 \u2013 compared to 29 in English.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"An
<\/span> Counting in Mandarin Chinese is simple once you know how to count to ten. Eleven is “ten-one”. Twenty is “two-ten”.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Learning to count in Mandarin makes certain math concepts intuitive<\/a> \u2013 like place value.\"Image Identifying the \u201ctens\u201d and the \u201cones\u201d becomes obvious when you speak Mandarin. Ready to learn to count to ten? This video<\/a> makes it easy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Once you can count you know weekdays and months<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Once you can count to 10, you pretty much know how to say six out of the seven days of the week. In Mandarin, you just add the word for weekday (x\u012bng q\u012b)<\/em> in front of the number word.  So Monday is weekday-one, and so on. Sunday is the exception to this pattern \u2013 you still use the word for weekday, but combine it with the word r\u00ec<\/em> meaning \u201csun\u201d to recognize that Sunday is a special day of the week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, to get the months, you just add the word for month, yu\u00e8<\/em> meaning \u201cmoon\u201d, after the number word. So January is one-month. December is twelve-month. Kids find it pretty easy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Compound words have logical meanings \u2013 allowing you to build vocabulary quickly<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As you\u2019ve seen already, in Mandarin Chinese there is a tendency to put words together to create a new word with a fairly obvious meaning. Tuesday is weekday-two. February is two-month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"An
<\/span> In Mandarin Chinese, two words are often combined into a compound word with a fairly intuitive meaning. The words for “electric” and “brain” combine to make the word for “computer”, for example.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Mandarin Chinese has been described as a language of compound words \u2013 and for language learners that means new words can often be guessed at or understood based on the characters that make them up. For example, \u201celectric\u201d combines with \u201cbrain\u201d, making a computer (di\u00e0nn\u01ceo<\/em>) \u201cHoney\u201d plus \u201cbee\u201d makes a honeybee (m\u00ecf\u0113ng<\/em>), whereas \u201cyellow\u201d plus \u201cbee\u201d makes a wasp (hu\u00e1ngf\u0113ng<\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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No verb conjugations to learn!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Students learning languages like English, Spanish and French spend a lot of time learning which form of a verb to use based on the subject (who is doing the action) and the tense (past, present, future, etc.) In French, for example, the verb \u201cto go\u201d, aller<\/em>, gets spelled differently depending on whether the action happens in the past, present or future. \u201cI go\u201d, \u201cI will go\u201d, and \u201cI went\u201d are spelled je vais, j\u2019irai, je suis all\u00e9<\/em>.  And if it is you doing the action instead of me, the spelling would be different again. In fact, there are nearly 100 different ways to conjugate the French verb aller!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Dealing with verbs in Chinese is super simple. There is no change in the verb based on the subject. The \u201cgo\u201d used with \u201cyou\u201d and the \u201cgo\u201d used with \u201cI\u201d are spelled the same. Full stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

To indicate the time frame that an action occurs, you simply add the time phrase for past\/last year (q\u00f9 ni\u00e1n), present\/this year (j\u012bn ni\u00e1n) or future\/next year (m\u00edng ni\u00e1n). There is no change to the verb \u2013 in this case xu\u00e9 x\u00ed (study).<\/span><\/p>\n

I studied Chinese last year.          w\u01d2 q\u00f9 ni\u00e1n<\/strong> xu\u00e9 x\u00ed zh\u014dng w\u00e9n.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I study Chinese this year.             w\u01d2 j\u012bn ni\u00e1n<\/strong> xu\u00e9 x\u00ed zh\u014dng w\u00e9n.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I will study Chinese next year.      w\u01d2 m\u00edng ni\u00e1n<\/strong> xu\u00e9 x\u00ed zh\u014dng w\u00e9n.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The pattern is the same no matter the verb.  You can\u2019t get easier than that!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Making something plural is easy<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The same simple approach to expressing when something happened applies to making something plural. In Mandarin Chinese to make something plural you simply add the word for the number of the item, or if there are lots, the word many (h\u011bn du\u014d)<\/em>. There are no other changes needed to the noun, verbs or adjectives in the sentence. That’s a lot easier than in English, where there often exceptions in spelling. Why is the plural of hand \u201chands,\u201d but the plural of foot \u201cfeet\u201d? Many English language learners would love to know! Also in Mandarin there is no need to make adjectives plural, the way you do in languages like French or Spanish.<\/span><\/p>\n

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No masculine and feminine nouns<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In languages like French and Spanish, nouns are either masculine or feminine \u2013 and there aren\u2019t always logical ways to remember which is which. For example, in French, a table is feminine \u2013 une table<\/em>, but a desk is masculine \u2013 un bureau<\/em>. To complicate matters further, adjectives need to be modified to reflect the gender of the object \u2013 with spelling irregularities as a result. A white table is \u201cune table blanche\u201d, <\/em>but a white desk is \u201cun bureau blanc\u201d<\/em>. In Mandarin Chinese, like in English, nouns don\u2019t have gender.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Grammatical structures are consistent<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Continuing the logical approach, grammatical structures in Mandarin Chinese are very consistent. Like English, sentences follow a subject-object-verb pattern, for example, \u201cI eat bread.\u201d This means that the word order required when forming sentences will feel very familiar to native English speakers. Furthermore, in Chinese, modifiers always come before the word they modify: \u201cI eat fresh bread.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Few new sounds to learn<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

From birth, most babies are capable of learning to make any sound a language requires \u2013 from the rolled double r\u2019s in Spanish, to the nasal sounds in French or the clicks of Xhosa speakers in Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image
<\/span> Mandarin Chinese has just one sound not used in English, an “\u00fc” sound, similar to the “u” in the French word “tu”.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, as early as 10-12 months of age babies start to lose the ability to distinguish sounds<\/a> they are not frequently exposed to. Foreign language learners therefore need to re-tune their ears \u2013 and train their mouths \u2013 to make the sounds they were capable of as a baby (all the more reason to start learning languages as young as possible!).<\/span><\/p>\n

While there are challenges to learning to pronounce words in Mandarin (we\u2019ll talk about this in Part Two), learning Mandarin only involves learning one sound not used in English \u2013 and that is the \u201c\u00fc\u201d sound in the words l\u01dc s\u00e8<\/em> (green)\u2013 which is pronounced the same as the \u201cu\u201d in tu<\/em> in French.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lots of benefits to learning Mandarin<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If your child is interested in learning Mandarin Chinese \u2013 and wants to be able to speak with one-seventh of the people on Earth \u2013 there\u2019s no reason for them, or you, to feel intimidated. Kids learn Chinese all the time! And learning any foreign language at a young age has been shown to have brain-building benefits<\/a> that can last for life. Studies show it can even benefit test scores in core subjects<\/a>, and helps develop greater cultural understanding and empathy<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say there aren\u2019t challenges for children learning Chinese \u2013 we\u2019ll get to that next, in Part Two. But it\u2019s good to know where your young language learner will catch some breaks too. And remember, PandaTree<\/a> is always there to help your child out.<\/span><\/p>\n

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  READ MORE: What Makes Mandarin Challenging: Characters, Tones, Idioms and More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/strong>About the Authors<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" Kristina Klausen<\/strong> is the founder and CEO of PandaTree.com<\/a>, which provides one-on-one online foreign language lessons for kids. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and is mom to two Mandarin learners.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"Mingyu Sun<\/strong> is a Senior Manager at PandaTree.com<\/a>. She has a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Michigan State University and also works at the Language Resource Center at the University of Wisconsin. Her two young children are fluent in Mandarin.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kristina Klausen, MBA and Mingyu Sun, Ph.D. Chinese has a reputation of being a tough language to learn, but have you ever wondered why that is? Nearly a billion people in the world speak Mandarin Chinese \u2013 so clearly learning it is possible. However, if you\u2019re a parent thinking about having your children learn Mandarin as … Continue reading “How Hard is it for Kids to Learn Chinese? Part One”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796,"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions\/796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}