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Thread: what's the most difficult part of learning Chinese?
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[quote=JABAROOTOO,36170]Thanks Melody, That's some good advice. I find I learn more when I have to commuincate with friends and locals who don;t speak English. If I am with someone who speaks any English I often get lazy and rely on them to communicate, but I have to laugh when I ask my bi-lingual friends watch and listen as I try to communicate my needs and see how far I get before the other person looks helplessly towards my friend for help in understanding me. Sometimes it is me who gives up first, but when I am out by myself which is quite alot things go pretty well depending on who it is I am talking with. Some people have loads more patience, interest and understanding. I am happy to report that I am now the proud owner of an English, Chinese & Pinyin Dictionary which is designed particularly for non Chinese speakers or readers. The software is called 'Pleco Dictionary' and for as little as $60US I can find words using English, Pinyin, or Hanzi characters. It has a flash card system where you can practice recognizing words you are learning etc. All you need is a hand held PC and you have the makings of a custom made dictionary. Now when I see a character I should know or don't know I can copy it in the recognizer and find out what it means - I just may begin to remember it in the future. Helps in reading menus too. I highly recommend it and wish I had found the software years ago. One of my friends was telling me today that our very colouful local Chongqing Hua really doesn't have any tones..............and I think I have to believe her. I am best understood when I just speak as quickly as possible ignoring the tones. When I try to use Mandarin with clear tones most locals "ting bu qing qu" and I end up repeating myself a number of times in as many different tones and speeds until something registers. Taxi dirvers are the funniest but it happens in shops a lot too. I think most people are just surprised that we can speak at all. I still get surprised comments when I say 'Xie xie' which by now flows very freely from my lips - automatic response.[/quote]
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