For most people, learning a second foreign language is difficult. But for them, it's the hardest to learn simplified Chinese. All aspects of Chinese language, from the tones of Chinese to Mandarin Chinese characters, are difficult. Here are some reasons why Chinese is hard for foreigners.

 

The first reason is the complicated Chinese language ideograph. The main reason why Chinese is difficult to learn is that there are so many characters one has to learn. In addition, Chinese is not very phonetic, which means that there is no obvious semantic clue in the radical. Also, there is no helpful phonetic component in the character, so people will forget it. Unlike English, Chinese characters are arranged in the way of their radicals and Chinese has nothing that corresponds to an alphabet, thus it's hard for Chinese learners to recognize the radicals if they haven't systematically studied Chinese language. Thus reading Chinese characters becomes difficult too.

 

The second reason is the complicated writing system. The beauty of Chinese is undoubtable, however, the writing system is really complex. Maybe you can speak fluent Chinese, but can writing Mandarin Chinese characters may be a challenge for you. Even some Chinese natives can't write good Mandarin Chinese characters. The reason why the writing system of Chinese is difficult for people is that the spelling of Chinese characters isn't always regular.

 

Third, it's confusing to learn traditional Chinese. Undoubtedly, the most difficult thing while learning Chinese lies in studying traditional Chinese. Traditional Chinese looks like a series of strange code for foreigners. As native Chinese, can you say that you've learned traditional Chinese very well? I think most of us will say no. As ancient Chinese people have their own language system, so acquiring traditional Chinese is of huge difficulties. Mandarin Chinese is the main part of Chinese and is most widely used, so it's not that important for foreigners to learn traditional Chinese.

 

Fourth, there are four tones in Chinese. The four tones include the high flat tone, the lowering tone, the dipping tone and the rising tone. Many foreigners may complain that the vowels and consonants are so difficult to remember. What's more, tones of Chinese characters changes according to different kinds of word collocation. And the real challenge occurs when you try to communicate in Chinese.

 

Last, the huge cultural differences between the east and west. It's the main reason why Chinese is so hard for foreigners. The knowledge and ideas of Chinese people was not shared by westerners.

 

If you are a foreigner trying to learn Chinese, you should understand the above reasons. Then you may get yourself prepared to Chinese language learning. It is recommended that you learn simplified Chinese since it's of little point to learn traditional Chinese in this modern age. Of course you can have a general understanding of traditional Chinese and the culture.