<p>This is a situation where we need to be more specific than &quot;chinese&quot;.</p>
<p>Do you want to learn mandarin, cantonese, some other chinese? that will change the answer.</p>
<p>Almost everything is written in standard written chinese.  If you want to learn cantonese, educated people would understand you speaking writtten chinese. However it would be very very different from regular spoken cantonese-- its not based on cantonese in the first place.</p>
<p>If you want to learn mandarin, then anyone would understand spoken written language, but it would sound a bit formal in daily life.  For example in some areas people use a lot more erhua than standard written chinese, in some areas people use zero erhua.  In all areas people will have a lot of daily life saying and slang that never make it into formal writing.</p>
<p>So, if you are planning to learn standard mandarin, you can use standard written mandarin and it will still be greatly useful, as long as you supplement with oral colloquialisms as well.  If you want to learn any other chinese besides standard mandarin you would want to use standard written chinese for minimal reference ((if you plan to read in chinese at all, you will want to know standard written chinese, regardless of speaking goals)). Hope this helps （＾ν＾）</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-17T17:11:41.203Z
2024-04-17T17:11:41.203Z
zagrycha
<p>Your friend is correct. Reading can help build vocabulary and learn grammar rules but does not directly lead to fluency in oral expression/speaking. I suggest listening to daily news reports or watching movies and videos on top of reading to speed up your learning of a foreign language and mastering all aspects of the language - 聽(listen), 讀(read), 説(speak), 寫(write/compose).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-17T17:10:57.900Z
2024-04-17T17:24:53.070Z
2024-04-17T17:24:53.070Z
r13
<p>I have once tried to learn Chinese through reading stories since it is the way I like to learn but one of my friends who knows Chinese very well told me the story language is different than spoken, emphasizing the difference is really much. Does it mean I cannot speak Chinese with what I learned from the grammar rules, vocabulary or the language of story? Would reading news be a better choice? From what I wrote, this shouldn't be inferred that I want to learn &quot;only&quot; by reading, I just want to improve and enhance what I learned by reading stories or news.</p>

<learning><spoken><reading>
Can Chinese be learned by reading stories?
# Can Chinese be learned by reading stories?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-04-17)

I have once tried to learn Chinese through reading stories since it is the way I like to learn but one of my friends who knows Chinese very well told me the story language is different than spoken, emphasizing the difference is really much. Does it mean I cannot speak Chinese with what I learned from the grammar rules, vocabulary or the language of story? Would reading news be a better choice? From what I wrote, this shouldn't be inferred that I want to learn "only" by reading, I just want to improve and enhance what I learned by reading stories or news.

**Tags:** learning, spoken, reading


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-04-17. Score: 1

This is a situation where we need to be more specific than "chinese".

Do you want to learn mandarin, cantonese, some other chinese? that will change the answer.

Almost everything is written in standard written chinese. If you want to learn cantonese, educated people would understand you speaking writtten chinese. However it would be very very different from regular spoken cantonese-- its not based on cantonese in the first place.

If you want to learn mandarin, then anyone would understand spoken written language, but it would sound a bit formal in daily life. For example in some areas people use a lot more erhua than standard written chinese, in some areas people use zero erhua. In all areas people will have a lot of daily life saying and slang that never make it into formal writing.

So, if you are planning to learn standard mandarin, you can use standard written mandarin and it will still be greatly useful, as long as you supplement with oral colloquialisms as well. If you want to learn any other chinese besides standard mandarin you would want to use standard written chinese for minimal reference ((if you plan to read in chinese at all, you will want to know standard written chinese, regardless of speaking goals)). Hope this helps （＾ν＾）


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### Answer by username_2 on 2024-04-17. Score: 1

Your friend is correct. Reading can help build vocabulary and learn grammar rules but does not directly lead to fluency in oral expression/speaking. I suggest listening to daily news reports or watching movies and videos on top of reading to speed up your learning of a foreign language and mastering all aspects of the language - 聽(listen), 讀(read), 説(speak), 寫(write/compose).


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