[Android] $0: Learn Mandarin - HSK 1 Hero (Was $13.99) @ Google Play

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handtechnics.com

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  jv on 25/06/2019 - 22:17

  Learn Mandarin

  Emperor, Honey Murcott or Imperial ???

  (Wasn't this posted about a day ago?)

  • 

    Being Askhole on 25/06/2019 - 22:18

    HSK6 ?

    • 

      jv on 25/06/2019 - 22:19

      Which one is better?

      • 

        Being Askhole on 25/06/2019 - 22:20

        +1

        Didn't try any of these but feel like HSK1 for beginner and HSK6 is for expert I guess

        • 

          jv on 25/06/2019 - 22:22

          +1

          @Being Askhole:

          谢谢

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  shortcircuit on 25/06/2019 - 23:29

  i need this to get better price deal at china

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  lostn on 26/06/2019 - 00:30

  +7

  Don't want to dash anyone's hopes here, but as someone who studied this language, you are not going to get fluent in Mandarin through an app. The same is likely true of many languages, but Chinese is not a romance language and reading/writing/speaking/understanding a word depends on you having been previously familiar with it. You need to know each word by memory. And you need to remember about 4000 words if you want to read a newspaper.

  In english, if you've never seen a word before, you'll at least know how to pronounce it even if you don't know what it means. In Chinese, if you've never seen the word before, you don't have a clue how its even pronounced. It's like hieroglyphics.

  Many kids grow up learning Mandarin as a second language, either in school or weekend class, until adult age and still aren't fluent in it and wouldn't be able to hold a conversation with a Chinese person. I know some bright people who studied it all the way to yr 12 and did well in it, but still can't read a book or newspaper without frequently referring to a dictionary, if they can read it at all. Three of my nieces got ATAR/ENTER over 99, and did Chinese as a unit 3/4 subject, obviously doing well in it. One of them is not fluent and cannot converse with a native, the other two are a bit better but can't read a novel or paper without a lot of help. All three of them learned the language as a subject in high school. One of them did Saturday class external. The two better girls did external class on both saturday and sunday. I can assure you, if you are learning solely through the app, you won't come close to even their level.

  As for myself, I'm hopeless. I can read some sentences without any help, but still not fully grasp what it means. Similar to english, people don't speak the way they write. But written chinese is even more formal.

  Everyone in my weekend classes spoke english to each other. You would not be doing that if you studied in China, and it is counter productive.

  The other complication is there is traditional and simplified. If you plan on having involvement with China (or reading China based newspapers and web sites), learn simplified, for HK learn traditional. There's no point learning both. It might be a bridge too far.

  So uhh.. hope I didn't discourage you, but do have realistic expectations from apps. This is not an easy language for a non-native to pick up. To truly learn it, I would suggest going there which is actually what language experts recommend if you are serious about learning a new language. They say to put yourself into an environment where you must speak that language exclusively, and no english no matter what. It will be tough, but the results will be better in the end. And if you're not serious, well, being semi conversational and understanding half of what a person says but not being able to reply is not much better on a practical level than having no knowledge at all. It doesn't help you much. For me it's a question of whether knowing a little bit is really better than nothing at all. Chances are, mastering it is out of the question.

  Someone who speaks broken english, if you are patient you can still be able to help them out. But if you speak broken Chinese, I really can't imagine how someone will be able to help you.

  Trying to learn through an app instead of a teacher who will also make you use it in class and give you homework, the best you can hope for is basic phrases like hello, how are you and thank you. If your purpose is for travel, it might be easier to just get a translation app.

  BTW, I'm not saying Chinese is a harder language to learn than English. In some ways it is, in some ways it's not. Everyone thinks their native tongue is easier than people trying to learn it thinks it is. It's a lot easier to learn it from a young age when you're in the ideal environment for it (i.e. everyone else speaks that language around you, and you go to school every day there, not once a week). This is true of any language.

  • 

    INFIDEL on 26/06/2019 - 05:51

    Thanks. Interesting personal observations👍

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    ifonlyiwasyounger on 26/06/2019 - 12:16

    Thank you for a very informative and helpful summary of your personal experience.