I agree, although passively learning Chinese is less effective than passively learning other languages, ex. English. This is because Chinese is a highly contextual language (there are many characters that share the same tones and syllables), and because Chinese characters can't be read unless you already know them.
Having Chinese friends and teachers is definitely super useful.
I just don’t really see the difference between ‘moving-then-learning’ and ‘learning-then-moving’.
I mainly have two reasons that make me think the latter is better than the former:
(1) I think is better to have certain familiarity with the language of the country you are moving to. It might also make your life easier, or give you a certain perspective on things. Basically, I think is better to know how water feels like, instead of jumping directly to the pool, and learning how to swim. This is my opinion, I can understand why someone would think learning directly is better.
(2) Moving to another country is something serious, I think before moving it's better to "get a taste" of the language of the country you are moving to. What if you move to the country and you find that you don't like the language? What if when you move to the country, you start learning the language, and you find it's too hard for you? I don't think people need to have a perfect Chinese, but at least know some basics to get a perspective. Then again, this is only just an opinion (an opinion that comes from experience, tho, I emigrated to China too,). Anyway, people should above all follow the methods that suit them best.
In China – hardly – no if you intend to have a normal life (ex. chatting with friends on WeChat, buying things on Taobao, traveling in China, etc). You can live without knowing how to write, but reading is fundamental.
If you want to live there long term, yes, but if you have years to do that then learning how to read won't be a problem. Many people manage to live in many countries being almost completely illiterate beyond an extremely basic level. For the internet you still have translate for the short term. It's not the same with understanding the spoken language because that's almost always a far greater obstacle. I'm saying that because learning how to speak chinese is generally considered far easier than learning how to read and write chinese.
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I agree, although passively learning Chinese is less effective than passively learning other languages, ex. English. This is because Chinese is a highly contextual language (there are many characters that share the same tones and syllables), and because Chinese characters can't be read unless you already know them.
Having Chinese friends and teachers is definitely super useful.
I mainly have two reasons that make me think the latter is better than the former:
(1) I think is better to have certain familiarity with the language of the country you are moving to. It might also make your life easier, or give you a certain perspective on things. Basically, I think is better to know how water feels like, instead of jumping directly to the pool, and learning how to swim. This is my opinion, I can understand why someone would think learning directly is better.
(2) Moving to another country is something serious, I think before moving it's better to "get a taste" of the language of the country you are moving to. What if you move to the country and you find that you don't like the language? What if when you move to the country, you start learning the language, and you find it's too hard for you? I don't think people need to have a perfect Chinese, but at least know some basics to get a perspective. Then again, this is only just an opinion (an opinion that comes from experience, tho, I emigrated to China too,). Anyway, people should above all follow the methods that suit them best.
Learning a language and learning to read the language are different things tho.
Learning a language is general (every aspect), learning how to read is specific (reading). What's your point?
You can go a long way without ever learning to read the language above a very basic level.
In China – hardly – no if you intend to have a normal life (ex. chatting with friends on WeChat, buying things on Taobao, traveling in China, etc). You can live without knowing how to write, but reading is fundamental.
If you want to live there long term, yes, but if you have years to do that then learning how to read won't be a problem. Many people manage to live in many countries being almost completely illiterate beyond an extremely basic level. For the internet you still have translate for the short term. It's not the same with understanding the spoken language because that's almost always a far greater obstacle. I'm saying that because learning how to speak chinese is generally considered far easier than learning how to read and write chinese.