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Anybody fluent in Mandarin? Tips on getting started?

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    Anybody fluent in Mandarin? Tips on getting started?

    Looking fairly likely I'll be moving to China or Taiwan in the next few months. Should probably finally learn Mandarin. I've looked into it a few times before, but it is absolute nonsense compared to Japanese.

    Anybody here mastered it? Is there a definitive set of textbooks or anything I should get?

    #2
    You can't just learn Mandarin. There are many dialects. Where in China are you going, North or South? Taiwanese Mandarin is different again.
    Last edited by J0e Musashi; 22-01-2013, 08:51.
    Kept you waiting, huh?

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      #3
      Being able to read Japanese gives you a bit of an edge at least. No I know kanji/hanzi characters are read differently but the meanings are similar mostly I imagine. And there is only one way of reading a character, not the 1~8 that Japanese has.

      I keep meaning to start myself as I have My Chinese Coach for DS ready to go and everything.

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        #4
        Taiwanese Mandarin is the same except for having an accent. Taiwanese is different though. I'll be going to Shanghai if I move to China, but I don't want to learn Shanghainese.

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          #5
          Are you sure you want to move to Shanghai? I'd visit for several weeks first.

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            #6
            I just did.

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              #7
              Okay, fair enough.

              Did the spitting not get on your nerves?

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                #8
                I didn't have a problem with the spitting. Or the coughing. Or the sniffing, snorting, singing, sleeping, smoking ****ING ASSHOLES. That was just the taxi drivers. They have macarons in Shanghai though, so it's fine.

                Seriously though, my girlfriend lives there, so I don't have a choice. Unless of course I go to Taiwan instead.

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                  #9
                  theres plenty of online courses and theres even skype lessons.

                  If you live in a place long enough sooner or later you'll pick the language up (unless, of course, if you make a serious point not to).

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by zeroboo View Post
                    If you live in a place long enough sooner or later you'll pick the language up (unless, of course, if you make a serious point not to).
                    I don't know, I've been here three years nearly and I can't understand a single bloody word of ching-chong.

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                      #11
                      I was about to say, my Japanese seems to get worse by the day despite living here and making a real effort to improve.

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