[Survey] Your Chinese Fluency (scale added)

Language Learning Chinese
1

(Note: I did a quick search to see if this had already been discussed, but didn’t come across anything much)

Fill this out:

[code][strike]How fluent in Mandarin are you?[/strike] What is your Mandarin proficiency?
Reading:
Writing:
Speaking:
Listening:

How long have you studied?
Where did you study?
How long before you felt “comfortable” with the language?

How long have you been in a Chinese/Mandarin speaking environment?

Why did you start learning Mandarin?
Do you feel it was a worthwhile adventure? (ie, do you like it, is it useful for your life, etc.)[/code]

Here’s a scale that might make it easier for the ‘fluency’ question:
Reading and Writing, a ball-park figure of how many characters you know.

For the Speaking part, pick one:

  1. I would be afraid to get off the plane.
  2. I can say “Ni hao! Wo jiao ____” and maybe someone will understand me.
  3. I can order a beer.
  4. I can carry out simple daily errands in Mandarin.
  5. I can confidently hit on flirt with the opposite sex (or same if that’s your preference).
  6. I can confidently get through the day without using English.
  7. I can run my own business in a small town with few to no foreigners.
  8. I can pass a university course in Mandarin.
  9. I can have a debate in Mandarin with my ethnic Chinese friends and win, without causing any loss of face.
  10. I could be a professional interpreter for the government.
2

I don’t really know how to answer the “how fluent” questions.

3

:ponder:

Maybe I should include a scale?

4

me love you long time?

5

Alrrriiiiiight.
Let’s see what I can come up with, hmmmm

Edit://
Is that helpful a bit?

6

You should also include listening. Most of us can probably understand a lot more than we can say.

I think using the word fluent is also misleading. It’s like asking to say how beautiful you are, as opposed to rating your attractiveness.

7

[quote=“Mucha Man”]You should also include listening. Most of us can probably understand a lot more than we can say.

I think using the word fluent is also misleading. It’s like asking to say how beautiful you are, as opposed to rating your attractiveness.[/quote]
blink

This is really failing…

8

I’ve made some adjustments, added one, numbered them and re-ordered a coulpe:

[quote]1. I would be afraid to get off the plane.
2. I can say “Ni hao! Wo jiao ____” and maybe someone will understand me.
3. I can order a beer.
4. I can carry out simple daily errands in Mandarin.
5. I can confidently [strike]hit on[/strike] flirt with the opposite sex (or same if that’s your preference).
6. I can confidently get through the day without using English.
7. I can run my own business in a small town with few to no foreigners.
8. I can pass a university course in Mandarin.
9. I can have a debate in Mandarin with my ethnic Chinese friends and win, without causing any loss of face.
10. I could be a professional interpreter for the government.[/quote]

This one is impossible in any language if you’re a man and your SO is a woman: “I can have an argument in Mandarin with my ethnic Chinese significant other and win.”

9

What is your Mandarin proficiency?
Reading: ~4000+ characters. I just finished reading Norwegian Wood in Chinese, but I’ve never read the English translation so I am not sure of the comparative difficulty. I am guessing a smart high schooler wouldn’t have a problem. Generally, I have no problem comprehending anything contemporary, and the words/characters I don’t know generally refer to nouns of lesser importance - plants, etc. However, I have never studied classical Chinese and have no interest in ever doing so, so pretty much anything written before the 20th century is guesswork to me.
Writing: I can write almost every character I know from memory with a high degree of accuracy - I practice regularly. I make few grammatical mistakes, and I use chengyu/書面語 when appropriate. But I’m sure you could tell right away I’m not a native.
Speaking: I have won plenty of debates with my Taiwanese friends, but I think the people I’m friends with are particularly apolitical/opinionless (and I have a lot of opinions on utterly meaningless topics), so I’ll say 8.
Listening: Following the speaking scale, I am pretty confident I could pass a non-science/math class, and am considering doing one of the linguistics programs here next fall.

How long have you studied? I hate these kinds of questions - when I started learning Chinese I intentionally avoided reading this forum and the experiences of others in their study. I did this because I knew there could only be two results: if someone progressed much faster than me, I would feel that I’m just too dumb to ever reach a high level in a reasonable amount of time. On the other hand, if someone had studied for years and years and years without getting anywhere, then I’d think, well, I don’t think I’m any more intelligent than he is, so obviously studying Chinese is a fool’s errand.

In other words, I think beginners or those thinking of studying Chinese should not consider what kind of time investment will be required. If you really enjoy learning Chinese and maintain a constant effort, you’ll get there sooner or later.

Where did you study? I came here to teach English with zero Chinese. I studied with a local tutor until starting full-time classes at NCCU, which is where I’ve been since last September.
How long before you felt “comfortable” with the language? See the above.

How long have you been in a Chinese/Mandarin speaking environment? Ditto.

Why did you start learning Mandarin? I was originally planning on going to Japan, because I had gotten really into Japanese film and music at the end of college. But I found the Japanese language not terribly interesting, and the job situation in Japan not terribly good. So I decided Taiwan would be a good compromise - better pay and more secure than China/Vietnam, but without the reputation for xenophobia that Korea has.
Do you feel it was a worthwhile adventure? (ie, do you like it, is it useful for your life, etc.) I feel like I’ve found a purpose in life. I kind of drifted my way through all my schooling up until graduating college, never studying, never doing much of anything. I started as a music major in college and when I gave that up (I liked playing, I didn’t like practicing) I had no idea what I wanted to do. I always had an aptitude for languages, I took Latin in high school and Russian in college, but I never got very far in either because I put no effort into them. But when I started studying Chinese, there was something about it that made me feel 樂此不疲, as they say. I still spend hours every day studying, even though I’m apparently good enough to get a job offer for full-time translation work here.

Long story short, studying Chinese changed my life. I don’t think I want to be a professional translator, but I do know that I want to keep learning languages and that this is what I should have done, what I was “meant to do” from the beginning. My dream is to also become fluent in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, so I’m very happy that I’ve found something I enjoy that I’ll be able to keep on doing pretty much until the day I die. I know I have to work hard to make up for all the time I wasted when I was a bit younger, but at least I feel like I have a future now. :blush:

10

[quote=“Lili”][quote=“Muzha Man”]You should also include listening. Most of us can probably understand a lot more than we can say.

I think using the word fluent is also misleading. It’s like asking to say how beautiful you are, as opposed to rating your attractiveness.[/quote]
blink

This is really failing…[/quote]

Not at all. You just had your first bite.

11

[quote=“odysseyandoracle”]What is your Mandarin proficiency?
How long have you studied? I hate these kinds of questions - when I started learning Chinese I intentionally avoided reading this forum and the experiences of others in their study. I did this because I knew there could only be two results: if someone progressed much faster than me, I would feel that I’m just too dumb to ever reach a high level in a reasonable amount of time. On the other hand, if someone had studied for years and years and years without getting anywhere, then I’d think, well, I don’t think I’m any more intelligent than he is, so obviously studying Chinese is a fool’s errand.

In other words, I think beginners or those thinking of studying Chinese should not consider what kind of time investment will be required. If you really enjoy learning Chinese and maintain a constant effort, you’ll get there sooner or later.
[/quote]
I understand your point and its a good one. However, I put the questions up simply as an “I’m interested…” not to gauge anything personally. But again, I definitely understand your point.

[quote=“odysseyandoracle”]
Do you feel it was a worthwhile adventure? (ie, do you like it, is it useful for your life, etc.) I feel like I’ve found a purpose in life. I kind of drifted my way through all my schooling up until graduating college, never studying, never doing much of anything. I started as a music major in college and when I gave that up (I liked playing, I didn’t like practicing) I had no idea what I wanted to do. I always had an aptitude for languages, I took Latin in high school and Russian in college, but I never got very far in either because I put no effort into them. But when I started studying Chinese, there was something about it that made me feel 樂此不疲, as they say. I still spend hours every day studying, even though I’m apparently good enough to get a job offer for full-time translation work here.

Long story short, studying Chinese changed my life. I don’t think I want to be a professional translator, but I do know that I want to keep learning languages and that this is what I should have done, what I was “meant to do” from the beginning. My dream is to also become fluent in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, so I’m very happy that I’ve found something I enjoy that I’ll be able to keep on doing pretty much until the day I die. I know I have to work hard to make up for all the time I wasted when I was a bit younger, but at least I feel like I have a future now. :blush:[/quote]
I think a lot of people would relate to this, speaking of Chinese or something different- even if they haven’t been as lucky as you to have actually found what they were really passionate about.

[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“Lili”][quote=“Muzha Man”]You should also include listening. Most of us can probably understand a lot more than we can say.

I think using the word fluent is also misleading. It’s like asking to say how beautiful you are, as opposed to rating your attractiveness.[/quote]
blink

This is really failing…[/quote]

Not at all. You just had your first bite.[/quote]
And it was a really good one too!

12

Yeah, I know that you’re not looking to do any kind of comparisons here (maybe I shouldn’t have said I “hate” that question). But what I mean is that I think that information doesn’t do anyone any good. There actually do seem to be people out there who will choose what language to learn or what country to go to based on which one is the “easiest,” and I don’t want to encourage that - at any rate I think we can all agree that Chinese is definitely not the winner! :stuck_out_tongue:

Like everyone else, I’m learning faster than some and slower than others. If you’d really like to know the details, you are free to PM me - there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

13

[strike]How fluent in Mandarin are you?[/strike] What is your Mandarin proficiency? between 3 and 4
Reading: I normally recognise one or two symbols on signs, products, shops etc. I’d guess I can read about 100 symbols?
Writing: I’d guess I can write about 25 - 50 symbols
Speaking: I can often get myself understood for simple things like buying stuff in shops looking for stuff, and sorting out problems, using sign language where neccesary.
Listening: I understand a word or two every so often in conversations, but normally don’t work out what they’ve said until I’ve processed it for a few seconds.

[b]How long have you studied?[/b] I've lived in taiwan 3 months.  I've had two 1 hour lessons but they weren't very good.
[b]Where did you study?[/b] Taiwan
[b]How long before you felt "comfortable" with the language?[/b] not happened yet, but it's getting way better.  I feel perfectly comfortable saying things like I don't want that, this is my beer, don't drink my beer, where do you come from, and a few other stuff.

[b]How long have you been in a Chinese/Mandarin speaking environment?[/b] 3 months

[b]Why did you start learning Mandarin?[/b] Because it's really interesting and I think life here will be much more fun if I can converse.
[b]Do you feel it was a worthwhile adventure? (ie, do you like it, is it useful for your life, etc.)[/b] Yes, definitely, I want to do more!
14

11 - I can beat the locals to the hoop and then swear at them in Taiwanese.

15

Lili, here you go! I gave it a shot, just to make you happy.

[strike]How fluent in Mandarin are you?[/strike] What is your Mandarin proficiency?
Reading: 8/10
Writing: 7/10
Speaking: 9/10
Listening: 9/10

How long have you studied? 6 years in high school (useless), 6 months in university (slightly less useless), 6 months at a language center (very useful). I learnt most of my Chinese from being surrounded with Chinese people after high school. It just happened.
Where did you study? Australia/Japan (high school), Griffith University (Australia), NCKU
How long before you felt “comfortable” with the language? Somewhere during my university study I could say a few sentences; it took three weeks of traveling in Taiwan before I got comfortable having conversations.

How long have you been in a Chinese/Mandarin speaking environment? 1 year in Australia (though that was mostly listening), 2 1/2 years here (two years of Chinese Literature and half a year of very few foreign friends or friends who speak English).

Why did you start learning Mandarin? Because I didn’t want to do German and we had to choose. Then because I already knew Japanese and thought my Mandarin should be better. Then it was because a creepy guy in the class liked me and used to talk about me in front of me all the damn time, and I wanted to tell him to shove it.
Do you feel it was a worthwhile adventure? (ie, do you like it, is it useful for your life, etc.) My life would be very different if I never learnt Chinese. Dunno about worthwhile though, right now my primary income comes from Japanese translation.