Chinese Learning Goal
Now that I have warned you against setting your sights too high when learning Chinese, it’s time for you to decide for yourself. The truth, of course, is that your answer will be limited by circumstances (not everyone has hours of free time every day to study Chinese - I know I no longer do), but it is still helpful to set a goal. Here are some of the Chinese language learning goals you might set for yourself:
- Learn simple Chinese phrases and questions
- Learn just enough Chinese to get by with simple day to day or traveling issues
- Learn enough Chinese to hold a self directed conversation
- Learn enough to stumble through most kinds of Chinese conversations
- Become functionally fluent in Chinese
- Become as fluent in Mandarin as some Chinese people
- Become as fluent as the average Chinese person
- Learn more Chinese than the typical Chinese person
The amount you need to learn to progress from stage to stage grows exponentially. Let’s see how:
Years to Reach Different Chinese Learning Goals
Start with a smaller Chinese Learning Goal
There’s no shame in setting a small goal at first and then going from there, when first setting out to learn Chinese. In fact, it’s good advice. Setting your sights too high may lead to a lot of needless suffering.
Note: This article is both serious and joking about the ridiculous process of learning Chinese well.
I just need to learn enough to be understood and not offend. My prospectiive bride is Chinese and I will need to learn some Chinese and her some English. There will be plenty of time for everything. I need to learn more than the language, I need to learn the culture, manners ect, ect.
Tom
Tom - that’s an admirable goal, especially from the perspective of your future wife’s family. Any attempts at communication are better than total silence, you will be just a little bit less of a foreigner to them by doing so. Good luck.
How old is Dashan?
Hey Mark,
Not sure, although he might be the exception.
The above graph is basically a joke. If you absolutely committed yourself to learning Chinese it would not take 60 years to learn Mandarin better than the average Chinese person.
I have been learning chinese since 2003. So 4 years now. I have 2 lessons a week and I practice a lot with my chinese friends. Believe it or not, I still think I suck. I do believe the graph, and the fact that you could spend 60 years learning without even knowing more than the chinese.
This language is so challenging, but its a never-ending story.
Zaijian!
Hey Mike,
It’s hard for sure - the only question is how you define the average ‘Chinese’ person - if you include everyone in the country it would take many less than 60 years (like 5) - if you include only those who live in major cities or above a certain education level than it might actually be approaching that… heh
[...] Opportunity Cost - To really learn Chinese well, including reading and writing, you need to spend years studying intensively. These are years in which you could learn several romance languages or another skill set or perhaps [...]
That 20 year number seems reasonable. Especially when we’re talking about adult language learners, and when I picture the immigrants I grew up around in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
This scale more or less matches the expectations laid out by the guy who wrote the text books we started with:
Learning Mandarin: Realistic Expectations
We’re in our fourth semester now.
Joels last blog post..Skyping from China?
20 years was a joke, it can’t really be that bad. Or maybe it can? =)
Doesn’t it just depend on how you define the goals? Obviously you don’t need 20 years to get grammar and a great vocabulary. But I take “fluent as the average Chinese person” to mean more than grammar, vocab, pronunciation, and chengyus. To master the idiomatic language like a native speaker, and understand cultural insider allusions and references… for that kind of stuff 20 years doesn’t seem like such an overstatement.
Plus, I guess it depends what you’re doing for those 20 years.
Joel - Definitely depends on what you’re doing. If you’re in full time study + immersion mode for seven or eight years you’ll get just as much as if you already have a very strong base and use Chinese daily for twenty years.
Most people don’t have a decade to devote to daily immersive study (I don’t anymore), so you’re right