RU 
EN 
CN 
ES 
Recruiters and personnel managers unanimously say that the number of jobs that require knowledge of the Chinese language is growing rapidly. In the last year alone, this number has doubled. So many managers, procurement specialists and logisticians started to wonder whether it might be time to urgently learn the language of the Celestial Empire. The Internet is abundant with courses promising that in a couple of months you’ll be able to speak Chinese quite fluently. The Komsomolka journalist found out whether it is possible to master the ancient language in such a short time and whether you can learn Chinese on your own.
“Mom Scolds the Horse”
A cursory search on the Internet yields hundreds of links at once. Self-study courses, online courses, offline schools, university departments — there’s an overchoice. Offline schools and universities take too much time, so I reject them right away. But the offer to learn Chinese in 20 hours is probably just what I need.
The preface to the video course cools my ardor a bit.
“Chinese is more difficult than English,” it warns the beginners. “Many of its words sound the same but are written in different hieroglyphs, and the same syllable can mean different things depending on intonation.”
I begin to dig deeper, and immediately get confused. There are four intonations, or tones, in the Chinese language: high-pitched long, up-down (interrogative), down-up (affirmative), and short down (negative). There is also a fifth, neutral. The simplest syllable “ma”, depending on intonation, can mean “mother”, “horse”, “scold”, and “hemp”. The Chinese even have a tongue-twister “mamatima” — that is, “mother scolds the horse”. But, for instance, the word combination “mamahuhu” has nothing to do with either the mother or the horse, and is used to mean “fifty-fifty”. The syllable “ma” added to the phrase “ni hao” (“hello”) transforms it into the question “how are you?”
The same word can even have directly opposite meanings. For example, “mai” with a negative tone means “to sell” and with an affirmative tone means “to buy”.
“You’ll have to learn the hieroglyphs by heart”
After a few hours, my head is already exploding from the numerous “wu”, “ni”, “hao”, “hen”, etc. And I haven’t even touched the hieroglyphs yet, limiting myself to “pinyin”, the Latin alphabet transcription that the Chinese themselves also use. I have to admit that the idea of learning Chinese on my own has reached a deadlock, and I urgently need the help of a professional.
“In 20 hours, it is quite realistic to learn a minimal set of phrases for everyday communication and understand how to read the transcription — pinyin,” says Olga Mustafayeva, Director of the Chinese Center of Samara University. “But if you want to really start speaking and reading Chinese, you need to study for about a year, and with a teacher, at least in the beginning. Chinese itself is not difficult, especially for speakers of Russian and English, but it takes a lot of free time and motivation, because you have to learn the hieroglyphs by heart. They are the main difficulty. By the way, because of this, a significant part of the Chinese population still cannot read and write. Of course, writing is now aided by electronic assistants, but if you rely solely on them, you risk making a lot of mistakes — online translators are good at translating standalone words, but often fail to grasp the structure of the sentence. And Chinese has many synonyms, and not all of them are combinable.
“We learn the base with the Russians, the details with the Chinese”
According to the lecturers, over the last semester the number of people who want to learn Chinese increased by almost a third.
“We are approached both by engineering students who are going to work with Chinese equipment, and by adult specialists, mainly in foreign trade, who have to communicate with partners,” says Olga Mustafayeva. “For example, I had to teach groups of managers who sell toys or electronics to enrich their professional vocabulary. We see a lot of interest from schoolchildren, and it has grown since the Unified State Exam on Chinese is now allowed. For many young people, the attractiveness of the oriental language is also increased by the popularity of anime culture.”
Having decided to learn the language of the Celestial Empire, it is important not to run into scammers who promise you the moon and thousands of hieroglyphs in a few hours.
“It’s better to start learning the language with a teacher, and a Russian-speaking one,” says Olga Mustafayeva. “Many schools and courses boast of native speakers, but at the initial stage it is very important that the basic things are “spelled out” in Russian. But if you decide to learn the language further, it is better to rely on the curricula developed in China for teaching foreigners, including guides written for teaching Russian-speakers. Later you can add videos in Chinese and conversations with native speakers. It is important to understand that if a Chinese person is not a teacher, he will not help you learn grammar. But to master the spoken language, yes. In general, the Chinese are not offended by mistakes in the speech of foreigners, and understand even the words that are used in a wrong way, just from the context.”
By the way
Don’t give yellow presents and don’t hide a business card in your pocket
The cultures of Russia and China have much in common because of similar communist past. In this country Russians are well treated if they are polite and smiling. However, in order to do business with the Chinese, knowledge of the language is not enough; it is very important to observe certain ceremonies and rituals.
- Pass over a business card with both hands, leaning slightly towards the interlocutor.
- Do not put a business card in your pocket, especially in your back pocket — it’s a sign of disrespect.
- Do not give yellow presents — the color is considered unfortunate and even indecent.
- The number “4” in the Chinese language is consonant with the word “death”, so the Chinese avoid it. Do not schedule business negotiations on this date and do not accommodate foreign guests in a hotel room with this number.
- Remember that the first syllable of a Chinese name is the last name (and not the other way around, like in Russia).
- The Chinese appreciate when foreigners learn their culture and language, so if you speak Chinese instead of English, it produces a good impression.
- It is very important for the Chinese that the hierarchy and polite treatment are respected, especially if the guest is of a high status. Joking and fraternizing with the director of a partner company is not a good idea.
Competently
Anton Shakhov, SuperJob Press Secretary
“In April and May, job seekers began to name Chinese among career advantages twice as often as a year ago. Knowledge of Chinese is the most common requirement for managers of foreign economic activity (FEA), logistics and supply chain specialists, translators, and sales managers. Employers of specialists with knowledge of Chinese are mostly transport and logistics companies, retail and manufacturing enterprises.”
Source: samara.kp.ru
