Has anyone seen this video? I can't really comment on it, since I know zero Chinese. But maybe others can comment on it.

Wow, that was really good. I don't understand spoken Cantonese (I can somewhat desipher it when it's written) but his Mandarin is really good! XD

Now I feel like a procrastinator.

Canadian speaking fluent Chinese

gyuujuice Wrote:Wow, that was really good. I don't understand spoken Cantonese (I can somewhat desipher it when it's written) but his Mandarin is really good! XD

Now I feel like a procrastinator.

It took him about 4 years to gain fluency. To me that seems very reasonable. Especially if you put in the time.

Cantonese is very hard to master because of a lack of quality learning materials and the general unwillingness for Cantonese speakers to actually talk to you in Cantonese. Big ups to that guy for overcoming these.

"It took him about 4 years to gain fluency. To me that seems very reasonable. Especially if you put in the time."

Well I have like 3 2/5 years left then! XD

"Cantonese is very hard to master because of a lack of quality learning materials and the general unwillingness for Cantonese speakers to actually talk to you in Cantonese. Big ups to that guy for overcoming these."

Yes, there is nothing available thanks to 普通話. >:C But, actually I am focusing on Taiwan 國語 anyways. But very impressive video!

ta12121 Wrote:It took him about 4 years to gain fluency. To me that seems very reasonable. Especially if you put in the time.

It's certainly a reasonable amount of time with enough effective study, but it's important to remember that it's way below the average amount of time it takes most people. Fluency in Chinese takes about as long as Japanese, and both take most people a long long time to learn (I would say 7-9 years on average). Four years is pretty average for languages related to your own--a native English speaker could expect to learn French, German, etc, in just four years.

Tzadeck Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:It took him about 4 years to gain fluency. To me that seems very reasonable. Especially if you put in the time.

It's certainly a reasonable amount of time with enough effective study, but it's important to remember that it's way below the average amount of time it takes most people. Fluency in Chinese takes about as long as Japanese, and both take most people a long long time to learn (I would say 7-9 years on average). Four years is pretty average for languages related to your own--a native English speaker could expect to learn French, German, etc, in just four years.

7-9 years? Almost a decade basically. Which I hear is normal actually. But nowadays, I've been looking at different people who have succeed. And it usual ranged from 3-5 years. Although everyone is different, so this can be different then the normal gauge of how long it takes.

Where I live, there is a huge Chinese population. Sometimes I think, I would have benefited from learning mandarin, because I could just go outside, take a bus and then 10mins away is a place that has so many Chinese speakers.

(Personally, I doubt I will ever stop learning Japanese. But there will be a time for which I can call myself fluent though. I just hope it's sooner then later lol)