Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it?

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - Printable Version

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Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - aphasiac - 2011-06-08

thecite Wrote:Dubs?

I guess so. Actually there is alot of Japanese and Korean programming shown on TV here, dubbed into Mandarin. I haven't seen any dubbed English language programming though; the few english films and shows (Jamie Oliver cooking, lol) that I've seen has just been subtitled.

There are also localised PS3 games here, so can play though once my hanzi reading skills get better. But it's better to find something unique to *this* culture which excites me, and I haven't yet.

Hopefully this is just lack of exposure and language skills, and it'll go away..we'll see.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - NoSleepTilFluent - 2011-06-08

I'm sure you just haven't found what you like yet and i don't know but i imagine starting a new language again would be really demotivating as I'd prefer to keep learning Japanese. When I can understand the dialogue, I even like some love dramas in Japanese so it's not too bad. I'd say get yourself set up so you can cover "the basics" whatever that means to you and then post about crappy tv again.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - thurd - 2011-06-08

aphasiac Wrote:I'm finding it hard to get motivated to learn Mandarin, due to lack of interesting media.

I'm living in Taiwan now, and frankly the TV is terrible. We have a 50 channel cable TV package and I'm not kidding when I say about 50% of all the channel are dedicated to soap operas (cheap tacky love-based dramas). In fact the only thing on TV are soaps, variety shows, the news and cooking shows!

We even have 15 HD channels, and most of them are dedicated to Korean soaps and golf! argh! Honestly I find myself watching the English and Japanese language channels, hopefully this'll change once my language gets better..

I'm still motivated to learn so I can maker friends and speak to my girlfriends parents! But as a language to learn for "fun", it ain't the same as Japanese which had the constant excitement of so many amazing movies, music, anime and video games. Japanese was just cooler somehow, oh well..

From my experience, no matter where I go there is never anything on TV. I've like 150 channels in here and the only ones worth watching are Discovery & Discovery Science + occasional sports event (but that could be easily VOD). Rest is pure and utter rubbish. I'm 99.9% sure its the same thing in Japan too, so you just have to forget about TV.
It's like a background noise in most households anyway but in the case of a language learner its a slightly useful "noise".

In your case I'd focus on what people your age & sex find interesting in Chinese/Taiwanese media (media being: TV, series, animation, movies, even webpages) and find something you like. But most of all go out and meet people, you've got to have some kind of a hobby so go do it there and in Mandarin (Na Li just won a Grand Slam so I'm sure tennis will be booming there). People learned Japanese through Karate even though they weren't even that interested in the language, think what you can achieve when you want to learn!! My friend wants to learn Chinese (I'm sure he doesn't realize which "Chinese" he really wants) because he started doing Wushu and the language grew on him.

I also think you're just overloaded from excitement (with the move, new surroundings & people etc.), maybe a little homesick and probably more tired than you realize. Give it some time, don't rush things & don't get discouraged Smile

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - Jarvik7 - 2011-06-08

99.9% of Japanese is crap too.

News/tv shopping (2 channels of it)/poorly acted predictable dramas/people eating
Anime isn't on tv unless you want to watch Doreamon, have cable, or stay up until 3am

I only watch the odd comedy variety show or music show once every few months

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - yudantaiteki - 2011-06-08

jettyke Wrote:"The problem is even worse because of the Revolution : where Mao simplified most characters, people in Taiwan kept the complex character. So you can have two ways of writing a character, and 5 ways of reading it (one for each main dialect)."

That's somewhat misleading because these "dialects" are actually different languages in the same family. Most people are just going to learn Mandarin, which has only 1 way to read most characters (some have 2 or 3).

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - howtwosavealif3 - 2011-06-09

Jarvik7 Wrote:99.9% of Japanese is crap too.

News/tv shopping (2 channels of it)/poorly acted predictable dramas/people eating
Anime isn't on tv unless you want to watch Doreamon, have cable, or stay up until 3am

I only watch the odd comedy variety show or music show once every few months

that is such bullshit. they have so many awesome talk/variety shows (
like ame-talk, shabekuri, honma dekka, yurusei hanashi, zotto suru hanashi, suberanai hanashi, london hearts, school kakumei and lots lots moreeeeee ). just because you haven't put in the effort to find shows you like or if you don't understand enough to tell or if they happen to air channels you don't get (pay extra? I wouldn't know cause i watch online)

and they do have good dramas. yes most of it is shitty but the 1% or whatever percentage is actually good. http://choronghi.wordpress.com/?s=reviews

and honestly it's different from china is because for one thing CHINA IS COMMUNIST!!!!
and like there's so many japanese shows and korean shows etcetc that are fansubbed in chinese which obviously shows that chinese tv isn't enough for them which obviously because their tv is RESTRICTED>. and of course there's korean fansubs made for japanese shows for korean people who like watching japanese talk/variety.

this post you wrote... i probably would've agreed with you when i once in like the first month of studying japanese when i had yet to find media I really liked. seriously don't draw conclusions when you don't know what the hell you're talking about. BUT I do HATE PEOPLE EATHING TOO especially because I don't live in japan so i can't go to those places anyway and i think it's wasting the viewers time unless it really is special that it makes you want to actually go and try it. But I do want to go to SWEETS PARADISE someday lol.

randomlinks to variety videos that will probably get removed soon since it's YT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw__2jM3qyg&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDWrvXszAAI

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - IceCream - 2011-06-09

aphasiac Wrote:I'm finding it hard to get motivated to learn Mandarin, due to lack of interesting media.

I'm living in Taiwan now, and frankly the TV is terrible. We have a 50 channel cable TV package and I'm not kidding when I say about 50% of all the channel are dedicated to soap operas (cheap tacky love-based dramas). In fact the only thing on TV are soaps, variety shows, the news and cooking shows!

We even have 15 HD channels, and most of them are dedicated to Korean soaps and golf! argh! Honestly I find myself watching the English and Japanese language channels, hopefully this'll change once my language gets better..

I'm still motivated to learn so I can maker friends and speak to my girlfriends parents! But as a language to learn for "fun", it ain't the same as Japanese which had the constant excitement of so many amazing movies, music, anime and video games. Japanese was just cooler somehow, oh well..

how about finding a video rental store? I'm sure there'll be some Taiwanese movies you'd enjoy...

you can also check the listings on Mysoju to try to find something you'd enjoy: http://www.mysoju.com/browse/taiwanese-movie/

yeah, the taiwan dramas even get too sickly for me after a while. But, you can also find some that come from Japanese manga. For instance, if you liked Hana Kimi in Japanese, you could try the Taiwan version.

Whenever i was in Japan & turned on the tv, i couldn't find anything interesting the majority of the time. It's probably easier to find stuff you'll like online and then rent it from a video place. Video rental places will probably also have stuff from Japan dubbed into chinese, so you could try that with Japanese stuff you especially liked...

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - Myrddhin - 2011-06-09

howtwosavealif3 Wrote:that is such bullshit.

Wow, that was harsh.

howtwosavealif3 Wrote:just because you haven't put in the effort to find shows you like or if you don't understand enough to tell or if they happen to air channels you don't get (pay extra? I wouldn't know cause i watch online)
and they do have good dramas. yes most of it is shitty but the 1% or whatever percentage is actually good. http://choronghi.wordpress.com/?s=reviews

Doesn't invalidate what he said. Not living in Japan, though, you must be very knowledgable about what channels are normal there, and what those channels show.

howtwosavealif3 Wrote:and honestly it's different from china is because for one thing CHINA IS COMMUNIST!!!!

I thought these last few posts were about television in Taiwan. Last time I checked, Taiwan wasn't communist.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - howtwosavealif3 - 2011-06-09

Myrddhin Wrote:
howtwosavealif3 Wrote:that is such bullshit.
Wow, that was harsh.

I'm sure we can all agree or at least most of us can agree that saying 99.9% of Japanese TV is crap is harsher especially when you haven't really tried to find tv shows you like.

Myrddhin Wrote:Not living in Japan, though, you must be very knowledgable about what channels are normal there, and what those channels show.

that doesn't invalidate anything I said though. the point is whether i live there or not i'm going to watch the shows I like. I'm not going to force myself to watch stuff i hate. I know japanese tv really well at least the tv shows I like. the end. seriously. wathcing it through the internet just means i don't have to watch the commercials.

Myrddhin Wrote:
howtwosavealif3 Wrote:and honestly it's different from china is because for one thing CHINA IS COMMUNIST!!!!
I thought these last few posts were about television in Taiwan. Last time I checked, Taiwan wasn't communist.

yes I don't have enough free time to read every post in this thread because I have my JAPANESE TV SHOWS TO WATCH! and i'm sorry that i think chinese=china=communist... it's just logic but i guess i don't have time to read this whole thread so whatevs

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - kitakitsune - 2011-06-09

I pretty much agree that 99.9% of Japanese TV is crap.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - nest0r - 2011-06-09

99.9% of Japanese media is great.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - Jarvik7 - 2011-06-09

@howtwosavealif3
1) I live in Japan and have for a number of years.
2) My Japanese is by most people's standards nearly native level.
3) I used to live with a woman who would spend every waking hour watching TV, so I know what's on.
4) Cherry picking decent TV shows to download (some of which might be cable/BS only) is not the same as channel surfing and finding nothing but crap most of the time.
5) Sweets Paradise sucks, the chocolate fountain has no taste because it's so watered down.
6) Preferences are subjective, so if I say most TV here is crap, it is not something that can be denied by anyone else because it is an opinion. However, the claim that the dramas are poorly acted is objective and universal.
7) Fix your tone. Combined with your writing style you come across as a child.
8) You sure do make a lot of assumptions about me.

That is not to say that I think Japanese TV is inferior to anything else. TV in America and Canada is also awful. Canadian TV is probably the worst on the planet, and while American TV has a number of good shows it is spoiled by the bad stuff being mind-blowingly bad (ex: reality TV, TMZ).

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - slivir - 2011-06-09

Japanese TV is 99% crap, (just like TV everywhere really). About the only show I watch with any regularity is 'Before After' on Sunday nights.

I particularly can't stand all the variety and eating programs. Why they plaster the screen with a never-ending barrage of japanese subtitles for japanese viewers I will never understand. Is it to make the program more exciting, cra-zy and dramatic than it really is? Probably. J-drama is usually so poorly acted it's unwatchable. Occassionally NHK produce some nice one-off big buget dramas but these are a rarity.

Recently though, my antennae broke so the wife can't watch TV at the moment, thank god. I'm in no hurry to get it fixed.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - kitakitsune - 2011-06-09

I bought a TV three years ago to watch the Beijing Olympics but haven't really watched anything else except random taigas and Korean dramas. Korean TV is only 65% crap.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - nest0r - 2011-06-09

Japanese TV is 99% great. Korean TV is 99% great. This is fun!

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - kitakitsune - 2011-06-09

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Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - aphasiac - 2011-06-09

I don't agree with TV is always 99% crap worldwide.

Back in the UK I had the TV on every evening, and there was always something to watch. In fact my girlfriend was a TV addict and actually learnt to speak English by watching UK TV (mainly Friends), so it must be ok!

Anyway my favourite shows are sci-fi, documentaries, comedies and (serious) dramas. My girlfriend also loved trashy reality shows (Wife Swap, How Clean is your House etc) which I secretly enjoyed. Now compare Taiwan:

- Sci-fi doesn't exist here. Too high budget? At least Japan has anime to fullfill that need - and i can definitely get anime subbed into chinese.
- There are NO documentaries on TV here. Actually there's nothing educational at all - TV seems to be designed to be as brainless as possible! Cooking and travel shows do not count..
- Comedies exist, but they all seem based around slapstick / farce. Very different sense of humour - I'll probably get more out of these once I become better at the language.
- Drama - nothing interesting except love-based soaps. No sci-fi, no slice of life, nothing. I'm sure they exist but I haven't seen any yet.
- Reality shows don't seem to exist here! Too expensive? Or maybe cultural - people here dont want to look like idiots on TV to achieve fame, which is fair enough.

Anyway guess i can download, but p2p doesn't seem to work well here, and I have to find shows in mandarin that have traditional subs available (Actually there's probably a way to convert simplied to tranditional text automatically?). Mainland China probably has some better higher budget shows with their potential 2 billion viewer-ship base, but nothing from the mainland gets shown here (for political reasons).

I'll do as icecream says and check out my local DVd store. But my PS3 and laptop both are set for region 2, and Taiwan DVDs are region 3 so have to investigate how to change that - on ps3 i dont think i can. By luck Japanese is region 2, same as Europe so you guys in Japan can just watch anything (damn you).

Anyway mustn't grumble, just having a bit of a rant! Smile

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - vonPeterhof - 2011-06-10

Why is everyone throwing the 99% figure around? Experts have long agreed that the magical number is 90% Smile

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - Vaste - 2011-06-10

For simp -> trad, there's google translate.

I find the mainland dating show 非誠勿擾 to be quite interesting. It's immensely popular, and is in some ways less shallow than similar shows I've seen in the west. I'd say you can learn a lot about modern Chinese values from it, and what people really care about. (Such as the stereotypical house+car.) You'll see all kinds of Chinese men trying to make a good impression on the girls, often from a long-term, marriage perspective.

Is learning Chinese (Mandarin) worth it? - IceCream - 2011-06-11

@aphasiac: i don't know if this has been posted before, but looks like a decent site http://culture.tw/index.php

also, apparently there are whole channels devoted to documentary and anime. One documentary channel launched just this year... http://www.europe-asia-documentary.com/2010/12/doc-news-16-31-december-2010/ (scroll down to CCTV Documentary Channel will be January 1, 2011 launch (16/12/2010))