Chinese is Hard

爱•死•你 // Love you to death

There are a few things I would like to ask you. Firstly,I have a huge problem with tones.I can’t remember them and even if the text has them marked,I can’t pronounce them correctly.This and the fact that sometimes I get comments about my pronunciation is really sad,because I’m already studying Chinese for 2.5 years. I have no idea how people can learn them.Is this really a huge problem and no one will understand me and will make fun of me?How can you memorize them?I just learn them,write a test and then forget them instantly.There are so many words so how it is possible to memorize them for each one of them?

The other thing is that I’m lazy,so now I’m quite behind everybody else. I went to another country on the exchange program and came back with no new knowledge at all,while those who stayed here and those who went to China learned a lot. Then I decided not to take a more “serious” additional course because I was really scared and I thought that I couldn’t keep up (which is true). So now I can’t read anything correctly because I don’t know a lot of hanzi and overall my Chinese is very very bad.So I’m scared and don’t know what to do.Should I just leave all of this and choose something else after 2.5y? Should I take the course that I will 100proc fail and feel miserable and scared because of it,but maybe learn something new?  I know this may be tldr so the main point is,what would you do if you felt really behind everybody in your class?How do you stay motivated and just go forward learning new words and not forgetting the old ones?   And what do you do with that fear of failure and embarrassment?(I feel like this is my n1 problem)

I'm a bit of a hardass on myself in relationship to my grades. Particularly when I see how good my peers are doing on exams and things. Buuuutttt it matters how you improve. You are learning this incredibly difficult language to better yourself. You need to focus on your improvements. THAT is the key.

I completely understand how you feel you are behind and aren't doing well or aren't motivated. To help with your motivation maybe look at the studyblr tag here on tumblr? I always find that it helps me get in the mood to study. You might also consider changing how you study. You can work on listening by watching films online. Netflix actually has really interesting Chinese films that I 100% think you should watch. My friend Abby LOVES "Lost in Thailand" I haven't seen it but it's super funny.

There are a few things I would like to ask you. Firstly,I have a huge problem with tones.I can’t remember them and even if the text has them marked,I can’t pronounce them correctly.This and the fact that sometimes I get comments about my pronunciation is really sad,because I’m already studying Chinese for 2.5 years. I have no idea how people can learn them.Is this really a huge problem and no one will understand me and will make fun of me?How can you memorize them?I just learn them,write a test and then forget them instantly.There are so many words so how it is possible to memorize them for each one of them?

The other thing is that I’m lazy,so now I’m quite behind everybody else. I went to another country on the exchange program and came back with no new knowledge at all,while those who stayed here and those who went to China learned a lot. Then I decided not to take a more “serious” additional course because I was really scared and I thought that I couldn’t keep up (which is true). So now I can’t read anything correctly because I don’t know a lot of hanzi and overall my Chinese is very very bad.So I’m scared and don’t know what to do.Should I just leave all of this and choose something else after 2.5y? Should I take the course that I will 100proc fail and feel miserable and scared because of it,but maybe learn something new?  I know this may be tldr so the main point is,what would you do if you felt really behind everybody in your class?How do you stay motivated and just go forward learning new words and not forgetting the old ones?   And what do you do with that fear of failure and embarrassment?(I feel like this is my n1 problem)

Motivating yourself when you feel you are doing worse than others is very difficult. Heaven knows I understand that. But you need to look at how YOU improve. THAT is the key. You are learning Chinese for you. Not for your classmates. Looking at the studyblr tag is something I like to do to help get me in the mood to study.

For fearing embarrassment you should know what my head Chinese professor thinks. She always says that mistakes help show her how the students may be confused. It's a teaching point. If you don't understand something, usually others don't understand as well!!

There are a few things I would like to ask you. Firstly,I have a huge problem with tones.I can’t remember them and even if the text has them marked,I can’t pronounce them correctly.This and the fact that sometimes I get comments about my pronunciation is really sad,because I’m already studying Chinese for 2.5 years. I have no idea how people can learn them.Is this really a huge problem and no one will understand me and will make fun of me?How can you memorize them?I just learn them,write a test and then forget them instantly.There are so many words so how it is possible to memorize them for each one of them?

The other thing is that I’m lazy,so now I’m quite behind everybody else. I went to another country on the exchange program and came back with no new knowledge at all,while those who stayed here and those who went to China learned a lot. Then I decided not to take a more “serious” additional course because I was really scared and I thought that I couldn’t keep up (which is true). So now I can’t read anything correctly because I don’t know a lot of hanzi and overall my Chinese is very very bad.So I’m scared and don’t know what to do.Should I just leave all of this and choose something else after 2.5y? Should I take the course that I will 100proc fail and feel miserable and scared because of it,but maybe learn something new?  I know this may be tldr so the main point is,what would you do if you felt really behind everybody in your class?How do you stay motivated and just go forward learning new words and not forgetting the old ones?   And what do you do with that fear of failure and embarrassment?(I feel like this is my n1 problem)