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Thread: How Many Members Are Learning Chinese??

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[quote=CHRISWAUGHBJ,231167]How do foreigners learn Putonghua? The same way Chinese people learn Putonghua- by studying. These Chinese, be the Han or minorities, who don't speak Putonghua well have probably had less access to decent education. That's all. Also, Putonghua is probably less important to them in their daily lives. If you are born and raised in Hong Kong, never leave Hong Kong, and just work regular Hong Kong jobs living a regular Hong Kong life, the most important language for you to know is Cantonese. Putonghua isn't much use in such circumstances. The same applies across China.

A terrible number of homophones? Yes, but so what? It's manageable, and speakers of all languages get confused by what people are saying exactly. Take French for example: 'l'amour' means 'love', 'la mort' means 'death'. The pronunciation of these two words is extremely close. Context usually makes it clear which one you're talking about, and when it doesn't, it's not hard to ask for clarification.

Is it difficult? No. It just requires effort, that's all.
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