Comments on: Asking the experts: How to learn Chinese grammar

By: Archana

Archana — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 07:36:32 +0000

I think Grammer is very important, you can learn any language, but Grammer is the foundation for that, thanks

By: How Should I Learn Foreign Grammar? 22 Experts Show You How

How Should I Learn Foreign Grammar? 22 Experts Show You How — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 21:00:06 +0000

[…] http://www.hackingchinese.com/asking-the-experts-how-to-learn-chinese-grammar/ […]

By: Teach Kids Grammar: Which Resource is the Best? • CHALK

Teach Kids Grammar: Which Resource is the Best? • CHALK — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 19:54:35 +0000

[…] Asking the experts: How to learn Chinese grammar (Hacking Chinese) […]

By: Sam Dean

Sam Dean — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 10:30:35 +0000

Grammer is the basic step in learning any language. And when it comes to learning Chinese, it is very essential to learn basic grammer. In simple terms grammer is the building block in learning any language.

By: 10 Free Resources to Help You Get Your Head Around Chinese Grammar – Hutong School

Mon, 07 Mar 2016 10:04:07 +0000

[…] Hacking Chinese: Asking the Experts How to Learn Chinese Grammar […]

By: Norman Sieweke

Norman Sieweke — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 17:50:54 +0000

None of the panel members explicitly addressed how to approach grammar when teaching Chinese to children. However, the approach outlined by John Fotheringham I believe would be the most effective – not only for children, but for adults too!

By: Kevin Hammond

Kevin Hammond — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 01:59:32 +0000

I’ve been studying Mandarin off-and-on since marrying my Taiwanese wife 16 years ago. My wife loves to say, “Mandarin has no grammar rules.” However, when I try constructing a new sentence using words I know, she’ll often correct me and rearrange the word ordering. My quick response is always, “I thought Mandarin had no grammar rules.”

Another random comment about grammar (more specifically, sentence patterns)… Although I’ve collected around 100 patterns, looking at the text of a modern-day drama show on Taiwanese television, there are many, many sentences that don’t come close to fitting into any of these patterns.

BTW.. Love the Hacking Chinese site. I haven’t had time yet to take a deep dive but it’s great knowing it has a lot of great info.

By: Olle Linge

Olle Linge — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:13:23 +0000

In reply to xiaokaka. Good question! It's really up to them. I have sent e-mails to both of them to see if that will encourage them to finish the articles. :)

By: xiaokaka

xiaokaka — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:18:05 +0000

Any idea of when John Pasden’s upcoming seperate article will be posted? Or David Moser’s from the last panel?

By: George

George — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 09:22:04 +0000

A few more thoughts came to mind…

My experience with grammar is a very deep involvement with teaching English grammar to 2nd language students in Taiwan. I have studied Chinese grammar and have a collection of several well-known texts.

From all this experience with grammar in both English and Chinese over 20 years, I see that it is mainly a working hypothesis, not set in stone.

For example, I was taught in school in the USA about the 8 parts of speech making up grammar, but I find no consensus of what all 8 parts are. At the other extreme, I have deeply studies Quirk and Greenbaum’s exhaustive English grammar that is 1200 pages long and have a list of several omissions and errors that I specifically avoid when teaching English.

On the Chinese side, none of the Chinese Grammar texts I have really agree with the others. So it seems to imply that in Chinese as well, grammar is a working hypothesis — not iron-clad rules for production of proper Chinese..

In a communicative setting, the rules get in the way. And since Chinese grammars seem to identify movable and not movable adverbs, there is obviously NOT on sentence pattern that fits all situations. Also, one of the worst practices of Chinese grammars is to identify the ‘bound form’. It is not a proper unit for grammar as it is merely a portion of a word, such as a prefix or a suffix. These half-words merely confound new learners that are trying to analyize the phrases and meaning.

Grammar provides overview and review of identified patterns, but it will never provide all of spoken language. A lot of spoken language is utterances and idiom, and many times the communication succeeds with a partial phrase because both parties understand the context.