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中国語の勉強はいかが?
世界の大国の一つに数えられる中国の真髄に触れてみたくはないですか—。
英語がある程度できるようになった学習者のために、筆者はこのエッセーで「中国語」の勉強を勧める。
四声をはじめとして、中国語をマスターするのは難しそう、というのが一般的な見方だと思うのだが…。
Time to learn Mandarin?
You have been slugging away at English for years. Now you can read an article like this fairly easily, and more importantly, for pleasure. And now I am suggesting that you go down to the bottom of a new mountain, pick up a big rock and start climbing. Am I out of my mind? Not any more than usual. But hear me out. It might be time to start learning Chinese. So let me talk about two things: why and how
Lots of great stuff is going to happen in Asia and in China. Whatever you are interested in, from art to technology, China and the Chinese will be at the forefront. And this is not to mention culture or one of the two great cuisines of the world. Want to gain an understanding of the heart and mind of one of the world's biggest countries? Well, if so, you are going to have to speak their language, at least to a certain extent.
So let's start by looking at the task. First of all we might ask what is meant by the term "Chinese." Isn't it obvious? Not quite. The "Chinese" that I am talking about here is the standard language of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan. It is known as "Putonghua" in Beijing. And while there are various dialects of Chinese including Cantonese, what we call "Mandarin" is what you need to learn.
The first question is: Isn't Chinese difficult? That, to me, is a real mind-boggling question. I think learning Chinese might be challenging, it might take time (I have been at it for two years and can now say "My wife wants a beer.") but I simply can't buy "difficult." There are just things that have to be done, like in any other language. Things like learning the sounds, learning the grammar, learning vocabulary and finally learning the writing system. In all of these, with Chinese, you get some complexity, and a few breaks. Grammar and syntax for one. Look up the French verb "to go" and see what you have to learn, then check out the Chinese word for "to go," which is "chu" — that's it.
And what about those notorious tones? Ma (mother), ma (hemp), ma (horse), ma (scold), ma (question)? Well, for me, I take the Nike approach: "Just Do It." I figure if you try to intellectualize each tone, it is kind of like watching your feet when you are learning to dance. So I listen to the native speakers on a CD or podcast and repeat without trying to remember the number of the tone for each word.
And now reading and writing? Do you really need to read and write Chinese beyond pinyin Romanization? And is writing really the best place to start? I don't think so. Unless you have decided that literature is what you are interested in, then why start with writing? And this gets down to goal-setting: What is your interest in knowing and speaking Chinese? Business, travel, films, music, food or culture?
After you set your goals it is time to look at resources. There are plenty of fr8ee sources on the Internet. Just do a Google search for "learning Mandarin." If you have an iPod or MP3 player there are a few good podcasts available. You might also want to consider CDs or interactive programs for your computer. Check out these resources. And get moving, there are a billion or so new friends out there waiting.
- Mandarin
- 標準中国語
- have been slugging away at 〜
- 〜をコツコツ勉強してきた
- fairly
- かなり
- bottom
- ふもと
- pick up 〜
- 〜を持ち上げる
- big rock
- 大きな岩(中国語のこと)
- Am I out of my mind?
- 何か変なこと言ってないかって?
- Not any more than usual.
- 普段どおりさ
- hear me out
- 私の言うことをよく聞いてほしい
- stuff
- 物事
- at the forefront
- 先頭に
- not to mention 〜
- 〜はもちろん
- cuisines
- 料理
- Want to 〜?
- 〜したくありませんか
- at least
- 少なくとも
- to a certain extent
- ある程度は
- task
- 課題
- Not quite.
- そうでもない
- standard language
- 標準語
- People's Republic of China
- 中華人民共和国
- Putonghua
- プートンファ(北京語を基に作られた中国の標準語)
- Beijing
- 北京
- dialects
- 方言
- Cantonese
- 広東語
- mind-boggling
- 信じられない
- challenging
- 難しい
- have been at 〜
- 〜に取り組んでいる
- simply can't buy 〜
- どうしても〜に賛成できない
- get some complexity
- 難しいところがいくつかある
- breaks
- 簡単なところ
- syntax
- 構文
- for one
- 一例を挙げれば
- Look up 〜
- 〜を辞書で調べる
- that's it
- それだけだ(中国語には格変化がない、ということ)
- notorious
- 悪評高い
- tones
- 声調
- hemp
- 麻
- scold
- しかる
- Nike
- ナイキ(米国のスポーツ用品メーカー)
- Just Do It.
- とにかくやってみよう(ナイキのキャッチフレーズ)
- figure 〜
- 〜と思う
- intellectualize 〜
- 〜を知的に分析する
- is kind of like 〜
- 〜のようなものだ
- number of the tone
- 中国語声調(四声)を示す番号のこと
- pinyin
- ピンイン(中国語をローマ字で表した標音文字)
- gets down to 〜
- 〜に取り掛かる
- goal-setting
- 目標設定
- resources
- 学習素材
- do a Google search
- グーグルで検索する
- available
- 利用できる
- get moving
- すぐ始めよう
- billion
- 10億