In fact, this is a very interesting topic, because we used to talk about how many English words we had to learn to communicate with foreigners normally. But now more and more foreigners come to China to develop, and learning Chinese has become a compulsory course for them. So how many Chinese characters do foreigners have to learn to communicate with us normally? Let's see what foreigners themselves say.
Once, an American computer engineer was sent to China as a technical consultant. On the first day he arrived in China, he was very interested in Chinese. Although he doesn't understand a word, he is very studious. After work, he will find friends to learn Chinese with. Starting with the simplest pronunciation and writing, he can basically speak some everyday language in three months. According to himself, he learned about 500 Chinese characters, all of which are everyday expressions. if
There are also foreign English girls who speak Chinese, which is simply too difficult to learn. I really admire that China people can learn such a complicated language. I heard that they have to learn classical Chinese after learning Chinese, and Chinese is unpredictable. Sometimes the same words have different meanings on different occasions. This is simply too difficult. I lived in China for three years and learned about 1000 Chinese characters. Nowadays, chatting with China people can only talk about family life, like ancient famous sayings and proverbs, which are completely incomprehensible. Besides, the pronunciation and writing of Chinese characters in China are very difficult. In short, it is difficult to learn Chinese well without systematic study.
Another Korean said that although the distance between South Korea and China is not far, the cultural gap is relatively large. China's profound culture cannot be learned in a short time. He said that he had lived in China for 20 years and learned more than 5,000 Chinese characters. Now he can communicate with people in China normally. He can joke with people in China and even quote famous sayings and sentences. He said confidently that when chatting with people in China now, unless I speak Korean, they can't tell that I am Korean at all.
Finally, the headmaster thinks that if foreigners only learn 500 words, it will be difficult to communicate with us normally, and China people will speak with accents, which will make foreigners even more difficult to understand. In addition, learning 500 Chinese characters is actually similar to our primary school students. A normal adult can basically understand 3000-5000 Chinese characters. It seems that foreigners should study Chinese hard.