I’ve studied it off and on since high school, but really struggle with speak. I get anxious about the times and accidentally saying something nonsensical. But we had a family show up that didn’t speak English, and I was able to do more than crank out 谢谢。
As a beginner level speaker of Mandarin, I have never once had a negative reaction from those I’ve attempted to speak to. It was nearly always appreciated by the recipient. The language is also richly linked to the culture so also learning that at the same time is helpful to learning the language. Speaking the language is a sign of respect of the culture.
Just be prepared for the universal questions you get:
What I really appreciate about the language is how different in structure and grammar it is from romance languages. Not having to conjugate verbs is wonderful. No word gender makes learning easier too. What you gain in ease there you pick up in difficulty in learning the verbal tones and the writing system. Mandarin doesn’t use an alphabet so its a whole new world of writing to learn for romance language writers.
Go for it! Just get started learning!
Well, have you been to China?
我 还没 出国. 我很想出
Wǒ hái méi chūguó. Wǒ hěn xiǎng chū.
I have not yet gone, but I would love to go.
(One of those hanzi may be wrong. My writing is horrible.)
I will commit this to memory - with horrible pronunciation, I’m sure.
This is another cultural thing. No matter how good or bad your speech is, they will almost always say “Your Chinese is very good!”. American’s like myself, steeped from birth in exceptionalism, would normally think “ha! I’m awesome at this!” and say “thank you!”. That is NOT the appropriate reply. One, your Chinese (like mine) is likely pretty bad right now and nothing worthy of praise. The culturally appropriate way to respond is to deny its good or say how bad it actually is.
我的中文不好
Wǒ de zhōngwén bù hǎo.
My Chinese is not good.
This is what I meant when I say the language is tightly linked with the culture. You could learn grammar and pronunciation perfectly, but still give a “wrong” answer. I don’t say any of this to discourage you though. Jump in! Make mistakes! Learn! Its a wonderful ride and you’re a better version of yourself for the effort you put into it no matter how little or how far you go.
Sounds similar to Japanese on that front. I took a course years ago and it was like: Here’s how to say “Excuse me,” here’s how to say “Thank you,” and here’s how to say, “No actually my Japanese is terrible and I am like a baby” lmao
I have a feeling 我（的）中文不好 is too much of a statement of fact to work here, but I’m not good enough at Chinese to provide a good alternative. Maybe a simple 还不好啊 would make more sense? I’m not sure, but “when in doubt, put 啊” seems to generally be a good rule of thumb in Chinese.
I would personally say 我(的)中文還不怎麼好啦/我的中文还不怎么好啦 (wǒ de zhōngwén hái bùzěnme* hǎo la). 啦 carries a bit of humbleness and is often used when denying a praise. 啊 wouldn’t really work here, though I can’t really tell you why. Might be because it can (depending on tone) sound like you’re denying sth impatiently and that it should be obvious, I think? … sorry I don’t really know how to put this into words precisely.
*Although 怎麼/么 is usually said to be pronounced as zěnme, I have always felt it’s more aptly described as zeme.
That makes a lot of sense, thanks for the tip.
I believe it should be
我還沒去過。我很想去。
我还没去过。我很想去。
wǒ háiméi qù guò. wǒ hěn xiǎng qù.
I have not been [there] yet. I would love to go.
出國/国 (chūguó) means to leave the country (presumably your home country).
Thank you, I appreciate the correction.
Please do try going to China or Taiwan! It’ll be fun, I guarantee!
I don’t know how I would decide where to go in China, given it’s such a huge place. Part of it is straightforward, in that if you’re learning Mandarin, it wouldn’t make sense to visit a place where Cantonese is primarily spoken, but that doesn’t narrow it down much
Maybe you could go to Shanghai. I heard the food is quite good there. Maybe even Singapore, though you risk everyone switching to English upon hearing slow Mandarin. Maybe you could also check out Chongqing. Basically just stick to the big cities, unless you’re mentally prepared to have to do everything in Mandarin. In any case you don’t have to commit to one city; just use the rail to visit multiple cities.
Though not in China, my personal recommendation would be to try going to Taipei. It’s a cozy city with nice people. Taiwan’s the first in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage, which is quite something. The boba tea there is also awesome. Affordable and so much better than whatever they’re selling over in the States.
I think that’s supposed to be 去 (to to) rather than 出国 (to leave a country).