Mandarin is different but NOT harder than other languages. The structure is like building Lego blocks; there are very few grammar rules and much less memorization than alphabetically based languages. Mandarin may feel a little harder at first as it is character based, but if the basics are taught correctly from the beginning it becomes increasingly easier to progress to real fluency. 

Mandarin words are easier to learn than English or other Western languages. There are only 409 syllables in Mandarin compared to well over 15,000 possible syllables in English. One Chinese syllable is one Chinese character, and typical words are built from only 2 syllables. Words are short and easy for the brain to process. 

Pronunciation Mandarin is spoken with four tones that we already use in English. Using tones seems strange at the beginning, but students find them fun, like singing. Lucky Mandarin learners be aware that the Cantonese dialect has nine tones! During the 1950s Chinese linguists developed a system of writing Chinese syllables using the standard Roman alphabet (pinyin) to make it easier to learn for non-native Chinese speakers. Without knowing it at the time, pinyin also made Chinese very convenient to use on computers and smartphones simply by using the English keyboard!

Grammar is simple and logical There are very few rules. Verbs are simple as there are no tenses, and no conjugations, ever. All verbs have only one form and one position. and none of the complicated grammar like “past perfect”, etc., as in other languages. Mandarin nouns have no articles, no gender, and no plural. 

Chinese characters may be the most difficult, but they can be broken down into subparts. Most of them have pictographs or ideogram meanings with writing rules that are easy to follow. Characters are built logically, like building blocks, and students soon learn to like and have fun putting words together. They quickly discover writing is easier than they first thought! 

Make your first step right here!  You can do it! - jiā yóu!

汉语与任何西方语言都有所不同，但并不比其他语言更难学。汉语的结构就像搭建乐高积木；与基于字母的西方语言相比，语法规则非常少，死记硬背也少得多。开始学习汉语可能会觉得有点难，因为它是基于字符的，但是如果从一开始就正确地掌握学习方法和基础知识，那么进步到真正的流利程度会变得越来越容易。 

汉语词汇比英语或其他西方语言更容易学习。普通话只有 409 个音节，而英语有 15,000 多个可能的音节。一个音节就是一个汉字，典型的词是由两个音节组成的。单词很短，比较容易学习。 

发音在普通话有四声，使我们已经在英语中使用的声调。一开始使用声调似乎很奇怪，但学生们觉得它们很有趣，就像唱歌一样。幸运普通话学习者请注意，广东话有九个声调！在 五十 年代，中国语言学家开发了一种使用标准罗马字母（拼音）书写汉语音节的系统，以使非汉语母语者更容易学习汉语发音。拼音也使中文在电脑和智能手机上的使用变得非常方便，只需使用英文键盘就可以打汉字！ 

语法非常简单且合乎逻辑，规则很少。动词很简单，因为没有时态，也没有变位。所有动词只有一种形式和固定位置。并且没有像其他语言那样复杂的语法，如“过去完成”等。汉语名词没有冠词，没有性别，也没有复数。 

汉字可能是最难的，但复杂的可以分解成子部分。它们大多具有象形文字或表意文字的含义，书写规则易于遵循。多数汉字是按逻辑构建的，就像积木一样，学生很快就会学会喜欢并乐于将简单汉字部分组合在一起。他们很快发现写汉字比他们最初想象的要容易！ 

请大家在这里迈出你们汉语学习的第一步！ 加油！