Quote: (12-08-2014 02:35 PM)Isaac Jordan Wrote:
I minored in/studied Mandarin in college for three years, in addition to an eight-week study abroad in Shanghai. I'd classify myself as intermediate/proficient, but still far from fluent.
If I could go back in time, I'd probably pick a different language. China is fun, but the opportunity cost was too great. Three years of intense study in a Romance language would've seen me fluent; three years of intense Chinese barely got me to proficiency. And if I had learned something like Spanish, it would have been easy to pick up Italian/Portuguese/etc afterwards.
Here's a great article detailing some of the difficulties you'll encounter if you decide to tackle Mandarin. The author might come off as a bit intense, but he's 100% on the mark.
Damn. That's one of the most dismal essays I've ever read.