Learning to speak Chinese is no easy chore, but it is especially exciting to study such a dissimilar language. There is a variety of Chinese language software packages, you could study in a class, or even go off to Hong Kong or China to study!

Certainly, there are lots of benefits to speaking Chinese even if it is at a basic level:

You get respect by simply having a try at speaking Mandarin, even if you pronounce words badly and make a mess of the tones. Because few Westerners even try, you stand out from the crowd.

There are many jobs, in global business and other fields, where knowing how to speak Mandarin is mandatory. For more challenging jobs, being able to read may be required. Reading Chinese is at a much higher level of difficulty than speaking it, but without doubt far more employment is available if you can do both. By the way, there are two types of written Chinese: characters and pinyin, which makes use of the characters of our alphabet.

There are also many types of the Chinese language. Most recognized and most widely spoken is Mandarin Chinese, while Cantonese is next most popular. In excess of a billion people speak some form of the Chinese language, and the majority of them speak Mandarin.

Most Westerners study Mandarin. I once determined to learn Mandarin but by mistake I actually took lessons in Cantonese for a time. This was before the internet. I don't think this slip-up would happen now. Here is how it came about: one year I was in Paris, studying French as a university student. My dad, who spoke Mandarin, had business that would take him to Hong Kong. He told me that I could meet him there, and that he would pay for me to begin learning to speak Mandarin while I was still in France.

I thought that sounded pretty enjoyable so I went to one of the main language schools in Paris. The people there introduced me to an aged Chinese gentleman, and I took lessons with him for several weeks. I struggled with the tones especially.

But when I arrived in Hong Kong and was met by my father, I greeted him in what I thought was good Mandarin. My father didn't understand me. So I began counting to ten, guessing that would prove I was speaking Mandarin. "That is Cantonese," my father said in astonishment. It turned out that all I had learned was Cantonese.

And all was not lost. It turned out that the process of learning tones did assist me to speak Mandarin better.

Now, with the internet, you have so many resources for learning Chinese. I am resuming the study of Mandarin a second time, using a program called Rocket Chinese. However you choose to learn Chinese, you won't learn Chinese fast in the sense of becoming fluent incredibly quickly, but you can pick up enough to have a lot of fun, or maybe even get a better job.

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