Why Study Chinese ?
Some known facts about China
1. China is the most populous country in the world : 1.3 billion chinese people.
2. One in five persons speaks Chinese.
3. China is one of the world~{!/~}s oldest cultures : 5000 years of history.
4. China is one of largest trading partners of the United States and China continues to expand its international relations.
5. The Olympics in Beijing 2008 and the World Expo in Shanghai 2010 attracts a lot of media to China.
Considering to study Chinese ?
If you consider to study Chinese language, you might consider to study Chinese culture as well. Chinese are a lot different from Western people. The Chinese culture is a broad topic : politics, economy, history, archeology, people, etc. It will give you insights in how Chinese people think, behave and live their daily lives. Whenever you will use Chinese language in daily live it will help you to understand how people in China interact. Learning the language is a start of course, but that is only a part of the new world you're about to enter : the world of Chinese language.
The language
Roman languages are a bit more complicated compared to Chinese. The grammar of Chinese language is rather basic and easy to learn. Chinese don't use verb conjugations, neither do they have noun declension. In english we say "I am" and "You are" and in Chinese is as simple as "Wo she" and "Ni she". Thus, Chinese is an easy language to learn if we talk a bout grammar.
The pronunciation of Chinese is a bit more complicated. The language distinguishes 4 different tones. And this is probably the hardest part to learn ; as well as the first thing to learn when you start with the study of this language.
The most complicated part about Chinese language is probably the writing. As we are familiar with 26 letters from our alphabet, the chinese have their characters. There are an endless number of chinese characters, but the average chinese person knows how to write approximately 5.000 characters. Besides that, there is also pinyin (a system for transliterating Chinese ideograms into the Roman alphabet).
Where to start
1. You can subscribe to a chinese course in a school. There are plenty of schools in every country.
2. You can learn chinese online of course. Idem ditto, plenty of online schools and websites where you can study Chinese.
3. You can find yourself a penpal or a Chinese person : Chinese are eager to learn english...
4. You can do an internship in China or start as an english teacher. Living in China will 'force' you to learn Chinese.
5. You can buy a book or cd/dvd and start with self-study.
Final reasons to study Chinese
1. Currently Chinese (mandarin) is spoken by one fifth of the global population;
2. These days, more and more people from around the globe wish to study Chinese. They succeed, so can you ; and this does not only look nice on your resume, it offers you a whole new spectrum of job opportunities.
3. If you ever plan to visit beautiful China, knowing the language will help you a lot to facilitate your visit.