Response to Ms. Zhang's visit

Ms. Zhang’s visit was a great way to tie the class reading about Chinese writing with an actual demonstration of how the characters are written. Many of the conceptions I had about Chinese being the most difficult language to learn went way with the explanation of how characters are formed and what they can mean. I find it very interesting to observe how, instead of being a representation of a sound, Chinese characters represent meaning; which I find very poetic. When I read about the staggering amount of characters Chinese students have to learn it was hard for me to understand how, if ever, they completed their literacy process. But as Ms. Zhang explained, it is a process that is comparable to how kids in kindergarten would start to learn the alphabet here. First they learn the eight basic strokes, and then move to different characters and their meanings.


Seeing the comparison Ms. Zhang does in the handout between English and Chinese poetry further explains that neither of the languages is perfect. While English may be considered concise, is not as economic with words as is Chinese. I agree with Ms. Zhang when she says that there is no “shortcut to learning any language.” Every language and its writing system developed because of the need of its people to communicate and preserve the existing knowledge, thus if it meets the needs of its people there is no way to classify a language as easier or harder than another. Practice makes perfect.