<p>The main difficulty is that Chinese, having a different linguistic root from English, does not have the shared vocabulary that European languages have.. for example:</p>

<ul>
<li>English: telephone</li>
<li>French: téléphone</li>
<li>Spanish: teléfono</li>
<li>Portugese: telefone</li>
<li>German: Telefon</li>
<li>Dutch: telefoon</li>
<li>Danish: telefon</li>
<li>Italian: telefono</li>
<li>Hungarian: telefon</li>
<li>Estonian: telefon</li>
<li>Slovak: telefón</li>
<li>Polish: telefon</li>
</ul>

<p>There are many many words with common roots in European languages, so it is much easier to acquire vocabulary. However I find that once I had a "base" in Mandarin, once I knew the basis of many compound words - this obstacle had less impact.</p>

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2011-12-14T12:12:33.160Z
2011-12-14T12:12:33.160Z
jsj
<p>I think the difficulties include:</p>

<ol>
<li>The tones, while almost all western languages don't have such a conception.</li>
<li>Remember how to write a character. There are many characters that you have to learn and remember.</li>
</ol>

<p>but the grammar is easier. In Chinese, you don't have to take care of gender, inflection,conjugation, number and particles.</p>

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2011-12-14T09:14:52.523Z
I certainly struggle to remember which tone to use at times. I also sometimes find the word order a bit confusing.
Cocowalla
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2011-12-14T09:39:36.133Z
if you speak  some a  language like German, you would be used to not taking care of word order. In Chinese, it's important since it can be used to specify the meaning. in general,the order is SVO
Huang
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2011-12-14T09:53:45.523Z
Sorry, what is 'SVO'?
Cocowalla
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-14T10:04:49.860Z
sorry,I am browsing this site with my phone and it's not convenient for  me to input. S is subject, V is verb and O is object. I can give you more details after I get back home.
Huang
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2011-12-14T13:22:20.553Z
Usually, the stem of a statement sentence is subject+verb+object. Adjective should be at front of a noun, adverb should be at front of an adjective or a verb. Hmm, I find I shall learn some jargons for grammar. I think I can discuss the order of specific sentence for you.
Huang
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2011-12-15T10:26:35.383Z
SVO means that in a basic statement, the subject always comes as the first element, the verb as second and the object as third. **Note** that this doesn't mean that the subject is always the first word and so on. It means that among those elements, it's the first. We are talking about parts of speech, not words. You can say "TODAY I ate an apple" *(the subject is still the first one, today is not a Verb or an Object here)*, but you can't say "Ate I an apple" *(subject is not the first one)*. I'm not sure it's clear, I didn't have a lot of space to explain. :)
Alenanno
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2011-12-14T09:07:26.817Z
2011-12-14T09:07:26.817Z
Huang
<p>What aspects of the Chinese language are the most difficult to learn for a westerner? In particular I'm interested in thoughts on:</p>

<ul>
<li>What do you find are the main difficulties?</li>
<li>Are there any aspects of Chinese that you find <em>easier</em> than expected?</li>
<li>Do you find the grammar more or less complex than that of Latin/Romance languages?</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-14T10:23:50.967Z
Are you sure this is a fitting question for this site? It's a good one, no doubt, but any of those three is asking for personal opinions and is therefore subjective. Can you consider rephrasing it so it becomes a bit more "objective"? Such as, "what usually are the most difficult things to learn for a westerner?"... Just an example. :D
Alenanno
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-15T09:05:54.617Z
I agree with @Alenanno, I don't think this question is a good fit for the site.
brc
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-15T09:29:40.880Z
I think this is a valid question to ask. Sure, it's a bit subjective, but you could probably use that argument for 90% of the question that get asked on SE sites. It perhaps was a bit ambigous tho, and certainly the title perhaps wasn't phrased very well - I've edited my question accordingly
Cocowalla
<grammar><learning>
What are the most difficult things to learn for a westerner?
# What are the most difficult things to learn for a westerner?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-12-14)

What aspects of the Chinese language are the most difficult to learn for a westerner? In particular I'm interested in thoughts on:

* What do you find are the main difficulties?
* Are there any aspects of Chinese that you find *easier* than expected?
* Do you find the grammar more or less complex than that of Latin/Romance languages?

**Tags:** grammar, learning

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Are you sure this is a fitting question for this site? It's a good one, no doubt, but any of those three is asking for personal opinions and is therefore subjective. Can you consider rephrasing it so it becomes a bit more "objective"? Such as, "what usually are the most difficult things to learn for a westerner?"... Just an example. :D  
> **username_2**: I agree with @username_1, I don't think this question is a good fit for the site.  
> **username_0**: I think this is a valid question to ask. Sure, it's a bit subjective, but you could probably use that argument for 90% of the question that get asked on SE sites. It perhaps was a bit ambigous tho, and certainly the title perhaps wasn't phrased very well - I've edited my question accordingly  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2011-12-14. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

I think the difficulties include:

1. The tones, while almost all western languages don't have such a conception.
2. Remember how to write a character. There are many characters that you have to learn and remember.

but the grammar is easier. In Chinese, you don't have to take care of gender, inflection,conjugation, number and particles.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I certainly struggle to remember which tone to use at times. I also sometimes find the word order a bit confusing.  
> **username_4**: if you speak  some a  language like German, you would be used to not taking care of word order. In Chinese, it's important since it can be used to specify the meaning. in general,the order is SVO  
> **username_0**: Sorry, what is 'SVO'?  
> **username_4**: sorry,I am browsing this site with my phone and it's not convenient for  me to input. S is subject, V is verb and O is object. I can give you more details after I get back home.  
> **username_4**: Usually, the stem of a statement sentence is subject+verb+object. Adjective should be at front of a noun, adverb should be at front of an adjective or a verb. Hmm, I find I shall learn some jargons for grammar. I think I can discuss the order of specific sentence for you.  
> **username_1**: SVO means that in a basic statement, the subject always comes as the first element, the verb as second and the object as third. **Note** that this doesn't mean that the subject is always the first word and so on. It means that among those elements, it's the first. We are talking about parts of speech, not words. You can say "TODAY I ate an apple" *(the subject is still the first one, today is not a Verb or an Object here)*, but you can't say "Ate I an apple" *(subject is not the first one)*. I'm not sure it's clear, I didn't have a lot of space to explain. :)  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-12-14. Score: 3

The main difficulty is that Chinese, having a different linguistic root from English, does not have the shared vocabulary that European languages have.. for example:

* English: telephone
* French: téléphone
* Spanish: teléfono
* Portugese: telefone
* German: Telefon
* Dutch: telefoon
* Danish: telefon
* Italian: telefono
* Hungarian: telefon
* Estonian: telefon
* Slovak: telefón
* Polish: telefon

There are many many words with common roots in European languages, so it is much easier to acquire vocabulary. However I find that once I had a "base" in Mandarin, once I knew the basis of many compound words - this obstacle had less impact.


---

