jdent5936

I live in Taiwan. Taiwanese, Hakka, and Chinese are all widely-spoken. I was quite surprised to know that some of the older generation Taiwanese never learned any Chinese Mandarin at all. I have had a few incidents where I was speaking Chinese and they couldn't understand me. It was so confusing. I didn't learn until later that it was because they only spoke Taiwanese.

I could actually see this happening very easily. I lived in Spain for about one year. I barely spoke any English while I was there. There were many words that took me a second to remember when I came back home to the states. I could also see it being even more possible for somebody who doesn't have a mother language of English. For example, if you speak Farsi or something more obscure, there is a good chance you may almost have zero chance to speak your native language. This could definitely cause you to forget quite a few words.

This is the third foreign country I have lived in. I agree that this is simple research that needs to be done ahead of time. I could still understand how these kinds of mistakes could slip through the cracks. Cultural differences don't always show up in translation. It also depends on the culture. But, sometimes other countries citizens aren't very willing to share some of this more secret information about curse words. It is hard for us to understand as Americans. But, the world is a much bigger and different place than we realize sometimes.

Learning a new language is just like any other skill you have acquired in life. It takes repeated practice and repetition. There is ABSOLUTELY no way you can learn more than few greetings in 10 days or less. You can just think back to when you were a child. You certainly didn't learn English in less than 10 days. I encourage you to still get started learning. But, realistic expectations are essential.

I am an English teacher in Taiwan. I teach kids ranging in ages from 5 to 18. It always amazes me how much faster the little ones learn. It can be quite overbearing when trying to prepare a lesson for them. They plow through new material in what feels like a matter of seconds. They don't have the voices in their heads saying that they can't do it. I think continued practice with both languages is still essential. I met a guy last weekend who spent half of his life in Taiwan, and half in USA. Now, he feels like neither his Chinese or his English is that great.

I ran into the same issue of interpreters saying the wrong thing when I worked for a customer service company. We used a translation service. It is hard to say what the problem could have been. I know our interpreters sometimes had troubles with the different dialects, and different accents. I would imagine it would be the same as in the states where a person from California doesn't always understand a guy from Kentucky.

I know Spanish, a little bit of Chinese, and some Tagalog. I absolutely agree that music helps with learning languages. We learned a Chinese song in my Chinese class, and that is the one thing that I can pretty much always remember on demand when it comes to speaking Chinese. I also know a Tagalog song, Pusong Bato. I have no idea what most of the words mean. But, I can still sing it. Music is fun, catchy, and easy to remember, which is all essential for learning English.

I agree with everybody that mentioned interest as a big factor. I am currently living in Taiwan. I also lived in Spain. I was very interested in learning Spanish while I was there. Therefore, Spanish came easy and natural to me. I have studied Chinese just a little bit since I have been in Taiwan. The language just doesn't have the same appeal to me. This has made learning it much more difficult. I seem to always have an abundance of excuses as to why I am not getting it. But, I think it is just not very interesting to me.

I am currently living in Taiwan. Learning Chinese is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I am not a very visual learner at all. The amount of detail that goes into each character is mind-blowing at times. There is also another fascinating aspect of learning Chinese that I don't quite understand. Foreigners can talk to the locals in perfect Chinese sometimes. But, the locals think that they are speaking to them in Chinese. This is because they are so shocked that any of us can speak any Chinese. It is bizarre, frustrating, and fascinating, all in one. ha ha

I am in Taiwan right now. Writing can be an extraordinary challenge for foreigners to overcome. It is much debated whether it is even worth it for foreigners to put in the long hours it takes to actually memorize how to write out each Chinese character. Each character also has a specific stroke order that needs to be memorized. I don't have a problem speaking the words I do know.