Why Learning the Chinese Language May be Easier Than You Think

Who doesn’t like the Chinese language? Chinese has the largest number of speakers of any language in the world and the number of people who speak it are rapidly expanding. Chinese is in many ways much easier to learn than European languages; its grammar is so easy that it makes learning the Chinese language a breeze.

Below are some reasons why Chinese may be easier, and more interesting to learn than you think.

Changing Verb Tense

For example, in Chinese you do not change verb tense by altering the verb (for example, adding "ing" to walk to make walking). You change the word that goes before the verb instead of changing the verb itself, making the whole process simpler.

For example, wo zai zou lu (I am walking) becomes “I will go walking” simply by changing the zai to yao: wo yao zou lu. Nobody can deny that this is easier than learning all the various forms of a verb to change the tense.

Short Words

Also, in Chinese, the words are all very short and easy to remember. The longest word is around 5 to 6 letters or 3 to 4 syllables, and there are no unusual vowel sounds like you find in words like treasure (sound this word out slowly and you will understand how difficult English can be).

Interesting Characters

Another great thing about Chinese are the characters. Not only do they look interesting and are great for impressing friends or family, they are an art form in and of themselves and have interesting meaning to them that point to how life was like in the past.

A great example of this is the character for family, or home. This character has two radicals in it, the roof radical, and the pig radical, so from this we understand that a home is a place where a pig is under a roof. While this might not make sense in today’s terms, it is a small culture lesson, as in the past the Chinese would have had their pigs sleep in the house with them.

Another example is the symbol for good which depicts a woman with a child on her back. This, to the Chinese of the past, was a symbol of good fortune as it was considered one of the utmost goods if your wife had a child.

In short, Chinese is a truly amazing language and everyone should learn more about it. If you have ever thought about learning a second, third or even fourth language, do not be afraid to try Chinese. Although the basics will be different than what you are used to, with patience and determination you will be well on your way to becoming fluent.