Mandarin, like most Asian languages, seems like a completely far-off language - one that is very difficult to learn by someone who is used to the European languages. That comes mostly due to the strange signs that form its alphabet - looking at them will baffle a person used to the Latin alphabet and will end up making them give up the feat of learning the language, unless absolutely necessary. Surprisingly though, Mandarin is not that difficult to learn at all.

What makes Mandarin easier to learn is the abundance of pinyin texts. These are texts that are written in Chinese, but using the Latin alphabet. Based on that, an English native can learn the spoken Chinese and then move on to the alphabet, which will be much easier once the language is out of the way.

Here are some differences between English and Mandarin:

- Mandarin presents six sounds that are not the equivalent of any English sound, like the combination of the letter i and a vowel - which simply needs to be learned.

- While Mandarin, like any language, is made up of words, the writing in Mandarin does not introduce a break between two different words, making Mandarin sentences look like a list of syllables and occasionally leading foreigners to believe that all Mandarin words are one-syllable words. While this can be baffling at first, once the writing is learned, it becomes easier and easier to distinguish between the words.

One should note, though, that in Mandarin most of the characters and respective syllables have an actual meaning. In English, syllables have to be merged together to mean something. However, the meaning of the syllable can be changed based on the context and literally translating every syllable may not always be an accurate translation.

- While the English approach to verbs is one of the simplest available, the Mandarin is even simpler: there are no verb tenses in Mandarin, the meaning of the verb and its translation being established by the context. This makes learning verbs(one of the most important parts of learning a language) very easy in Mandarin.

Why learn Mandarin?

While English is a language that is very often spoken in countries where it is not a native language and will grant you access to lots of cultures, Mandarin is the language with the most native speakers in the world. It is also related to all the other Chinese dialects and will end up offering you access to one of the most complex and richest cultures available.

Other reasons include:

We all know the Chinese economy is slowly taking over the world. Most of the small products we use are made in China. Business-wise, bumping into a Chinese native-speaker is inevitable and knowledge of Mandarin will go a long way in improving your relations.

- More and more companies open subsidiaries in China. Knowledge of Mandarin could earn you a fast promotion in one of those.