How Hard is Learning Chinese? - 学汉语有多难?

It's often said that Chinese is the hardest language for native English speakers to learn. Why is it so difficult to learn? What should you do if you want to learn Chinese well? Let's have a look right now.

单词及短语

Key words and phrases

学 [xué]
 
v. to learn [HSK 1]
汉语 [Hàn yǔ]
 
n. Chinese (language) [HSK 1]
难 [nán]
 
adj. difficult, hard [HSK 3]
外国人 [wài guó rén]
 
n. foreigner [HSK 2]
太……了 [tài …… le]
 
too, excessively [HSK 1]
第一 [dì yī]
 
num. first [HSK [HSK 2]
声调 [shēng diào]
 
n. tone [HSK 5]
报纸 [bào zhǐ]
 
n. newspaper [HSK 2]
开玩笑 [kāi wán xiào]
 
v. joke [HSK 4]
包子 [bāo zi]
 
n. steamed bun [HSK 4]
写 [xiě]
 
v. write [HSK 1]
汉字 [Hàn zì]
 
n. Chinese character [HSK 1]
非常 [fēi cháng]
 
adv. very, extremely [HSK 2]
每 [měi]
 
pron. every, each [HSK 2]
些 [xiē]
 
m. some, a few [HSK 1]
像 [xiàng]
 
v. to be like [HSK 3]
容易 [róng yì]
 
adj. easy [HSK 3]
记 [jì]
 
v. remember [HSK 3]
错 [cuò]
 
adj. wrong [HSK 2]
那么 [nà me]
 
conj. then [HSK 1]
建议 [jiàn yì]
 
v. suggest [HSK 4]
多 [duō]
 
adv. more, indicating degree or extent [HSK 1]
练 [liàn]
 
v. practice [HSK 3]
发现 [fā xiàn]
 
v. discover, find [HSK 3]

短文

Reading Transcripts

Zuì
jìn
zhè
nián
,
In recent years,
yuè
lái
yuè
duō
de
wài
guó
rén
kāi
shǐ
xué
Hàn
.
more and more foreigners begin to learn Chinese.
Jīng
cháng
yǒu
wài
guó
péng
you
shuō
,
Foreign friends often say that,
xué
Hàn
tài
nán
le
!
learning Chinese is too difficult!
,
First of all,
Hàn
yǒu
ge
shēng
diào
,
Chinese has four tones,
yàng
de
shēng
diào
yǒu
yàng
de
si
.
different tones have different meanings.
Yǒu
,
Once,
ge
wài
guó
péng
you
gào
,
a foreign friend told me,
huan
chī
Zhōng
guó
de
bào
zhǐ
.
he likes to eat Chinese newspapers.
wéi
zài
kāi
wán
xiào
.
I thought he was joking.
Hòu
lái
cái
zhī
dào
,
Later I learned,
shí
xiǎng
shuō
,
he actually wanted to say,
huan
chī
Zhōng
guó
de
bāo
zi
.
he likes to eat Chinese steamed buns.
èr
,
The second,
xué
Hàn
yào
xiě
Hàn
.
learning Chinese requires writing Chinese characters.
Hàn
fēi
cháng
nán
,
Chinese characters are very difficult,
měi
ge
dōu
yàng
,
every character is different,
měi
ge
de
si
yàng
.
each character has a different meaning.
Yǒu
xiē
hěn
xiàng
,
Some characters are very similar,
hěn
róng
cuò
.
it's easy to get it wrong.
me
,
Then,
zěn
me
cái
néng
xué
hǎo
Hàn
ne
?
how can we learn Chinese well?
xiē
Hàn
hěn
hǎo
de
wài
guó
rén
jiàn
:
Some foreigners who can speak Chinese well suggest:
Zhōng
guó
rén
zuò
péng
you
,
make friends with Chinese people,
duō
shuō
,
duō
liàn
.
speak more and practice more.
huì
xiàn
,
You will see,
xué
Hàn
méi
yǒu
me
nán
.
it's not that hard to learn Chinese.