User Comments - sheepdogz
sheepdogz
Posted on: Do I Need To Learn Chinese Characters?
October 31, 2014 at 5:43 PMI think this lesson addresses an interesting dilemma for Chinese learners. When I worked for a Western firm in Shanghai, I needed verbal skills to speak in taxis and restaurants, and to be able to make small talk with government officials at banquets etc. Incidentally, most everyone I met in China was much more interested in practicing their English on me than listening to me in my heavily-accented and tone-deaf Chinese! I dabbled with reading Chinese characters mainly so I could pass the HSK test (which I did as a personal goal), and read from a menu. Now back in the States, my 14-year-old son wants to learn Chinese, and unless he eventually wants to major in Chinese in college, I think he should concentrate on learning to speak and comprehend Chinese verbally. Certainly some ability to read characters comes with the territory (and, for example, is necessary to pass the HSK basic, elementary and intermediate tests and the AP Chinese test) but written Chinese is best left for those who have the interest and time to devote to such a difficult endeavor. I get that there are rich veins of cultural understanding to be gained by mastering Chinese characters, it's just a matter of allocating one's time according to one's interests. Traditionalists will be offended, but like doing complicated math equations with a paper and pencil, there's little reason in the age of the smartphone for a foreign learner to devote hundreds of hours to written Chinese, unless that's your thing. Lastly, in this century, I hardly ever write a note longhand in English - so...I think you get my point.:)
Posted on: Can you hear that?
November 30, 2014 at 3:11 AMAlso in the vocab section, might the pinyin for "hungry" more properly be written "du4zie4 e4"? - du4zie4 alone meaning only "belly". Useful podcast, thanks.