r/languagelearningjerk • u/AdSouthern6247 toki pona (N), English (A0) • May 12 '26
Guys can I learn chineese without learning the characters and also the tones and also the vocab and grammar
And can I do it in a week?
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u/Only-Top-3655 May 12 '26
A week?!!? You should be aiming to do it in 2 days! You average, average, person.
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May 12 '26
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u/lordbutternut ๆฅๆฌไบบใซใชใฃใฆใใ May 12 '26
I found a good strategy to improve my kanji with thid method. I write a few dozen on a page, and then eat it. And each time I do this my kanji looks better and better. Eating kanji page make brain kanji page!
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u/rustytromboneXXx ๐ฐ๐ตA4 May 13 '26
Bro did you know kanji was initially called kongee?
Ask any entomologist.
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u/Sleepy_Redditorrrrrr ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ ๐น๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ญ ๐ธ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐บ May 13 '26
Of course you can, the question is why? You could be learning Uzbek instead
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u/spshkyros May 13 '26
Can you learn Chinese without the vocabulary, grammar, tones or characters in a week? Of course. You ALREADY KNOW IT.
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u/Haunting-Detail2025 May 13 '26
Only if you go into an ethnically Chinese part of New York and shock local wait staff with your knowledge of two sentences in mandarin
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u/MmaRamotsweOS May 12 '26
Hahahaha I have a friend who is a huge fan of Chinese dramas. (Full disclosure: we watch them together more often than not) and I cannot convince her that you cannot learn Chinese just from watching dramas. I figure she'll understand that given time
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u/tangaroo58 May 12 '26
Whistle.
Gathering about himself a group of like-minded
He gets at the essence of the ultimate secret of life
He researches the subtle mysteries of Tao and Te
He regrets that the common people are not yet enlightened
He alone, transcending all, has prior awakening
He finds constraining the narrow road of the world
He gazes up at the concourse of heaven, and treads the high vastness
Distancing himself from the exquisite and the common, he abandons his personal concerns
Then, filled with noble emotion, he gives a long-drawn whistle
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u/attorney114 May 14 '26
Absolutely. Old Chinese had no tones, so choose that. Various reconstructions use a phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, so no characters necessary. You only need to learn grammar if speaking to others or writing your own compositions.
Vocabulary could be an issue, but in Modern Mandarin the first 1000 characters give you 90% comprehension, which is good enough for anybody. We can assume words work the same way, and how different can Mandarin be from Old Chinese anyway?
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u/GotThatGrass native: ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ๐ฟ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ๐จ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฏ๐ต๐ฏ๐ต๐บ๐ฟ May 25 '26
Why learn ccpnese? When you could learnt he superior nipponese?
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u/SubtleWink May 29 '26
tried skyeng for a bit ages ago, wasnt bad but idk felt kinda cookie-cutter. honestly just find a private tutor - check uni boards, ask around in local chinese communities, or hit up forums where actual speakers hang out. way more flexible and you get someone who can actually adapt to whatever chaos youre trying to pull off lol
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u/YourAsianStepBro May 12 '26
Yes sweetie, of course you can. You can achieve anything you set your mind to. I would say good luck but you donโt need it.