The Chinese language is very complex, but not impossible to learn. The spoken language is tonal, which means that there are up to five different tones, or pitches for every phoneme, or sound. Every tone has at least one meaning, perhaps several. For example, shi-first tone is used in words such as "teacher", "time", and "chef". Shi-second tone means "10." Shi-third tone means "to cause" shi-fourth tone means "yes" or "right".

This feature of the Chinese language is difficult to master has caused a few embarassing moments for some foreigners. The words for "ask" and "kiss" are only slightly different and many Americans have mistakingly asked their teacher for a kiss. I once said "I am wearing a green hat". I literally was, but in Chinese, it is a euphemism that means my wife is being too friendly with the men. Oh well, life goes on. The Chinese are very gracious, and are usually more than happy to help foreign students learn their language.

Chinese grammar is much less difficult. Sentence patterns parallel English-subject/verb/object. The verb does not carry tense like English. Instead Chinese use past and future time markers such as "guo" and "le".

I started learning to speak Chinese while before I went to China. I had a Chinese tutor and several Chinese friends. I also listened to tapes and practiced writing. After one year of study, I left for China. When I arrived, I was able to take the bus, buy groceries, greet people, talk about my family, and converse about other simple topics. My wife and I began two years of language school immediately after we got to China. At the end of the first year my wife, who had not studied in the U.S., caught up and passed me in proficiency. It takes one - two years to become fluent, depending on how willing a person is to isolate him/herself from English speakers.

The most difficult of the four language skills is writing. The Chinese script is composed of over 200 radicals that are combined to make tens of thousands of characters. A person needs to know about 3,000 to read a newspaper. Most college students know from 5 to 9 thousand. The Chinese script is even more difficult to write than it is to read. I would suggest that foreigners not practice spoken Chinese by writing the characters. Focus on learning to speak and read. Then if you absolutely have to write in Chinese some day (which you won't) buy Chinese windows. You can type in the romanized pronunciation and the character will appear on your screen.

Reasons to learn Chinese:
1. Business opportunities
2. Chinese people are so helpful
3. Tuition and cost of living are reasonable in China
4. Everyone is learning Spanish, try something exotic
5. Your friends will be more impressed, they think its harder
   than Spanish
6. It helps when your trying to understand a Chinese movie
7. You won't get Shang Haied as easily