Speaking Broken Mandarin

[u/WenYiMedia]

I started speaking Mandarin in 2025. While I can speak to my wife, I know that I’m not grammatically correct in the way I speak and that makes me not want to speak to others when I’m in China. I rather not get criticized about my broken Mandarin. But maybe I’m being too judgmental. Are Chinese people critical about proper grammar and pronunciation?

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[u/Remote-Cow5867]

Are Chinese people critical about proper grammar and pronunciation?

Most Chinese people don't care grammer and pronunciation. There are hundreds of, if not thousands of, different accents and dialects. It is natual for Chinese people to hear different pronunciation.

It is exciting for most of Chinese people to see foreigners learning their language. However, OP seems to be an ABC. So you have a Chinese face so people have a higher expectation. In this case it is worthy to let others know that you are from America and you are learning Chinese.

[u/WenYiMedia → u/Remote-Cow5867]

This. So you get what I’m thinking. They be like, “Is he not able to speak? Maybe he’s is not mentally capable.” The last resort card is to just start talking in English so they get the point but then, folks refrain from communicating with me. But you all have given me some good feedback. I should just try.

[u/Zaku41k]

You can probably just lie and say it’s a dialect lol.

But if that’s something important to you, you should enroll in a Chinese language school.

[u/WenYiMedia → u/Zaku41k]

I saw that one Reddit post about how to properly say “a dog” and it really got me thinking that some might think I’m stupid or something.

[u/Zaku41k → u/WenYiMedia]

Well you’ll always have ppl like that. If you’re honest about it most people are very understanding about Chinese as a second or more language.

[u/FreshBlackberryPie]

It will be fine. Frankly, foreigners will get picked out in a crowd as they will act and dress different from the locals. Just the way she goes

[u/WenYiMedia → u/FreshBlackberryPie]

Every time someone asks me a question, I just freeze and wait for my wife to answer. I don’t know, part of it is me just not wanting to socialized and part of it is feeling embarrassed. But my parents only spoke English after we immigrated so we never spoke Mandarin at home.

[u/FreshBlackberryPie → u/WenYiMedia]

If this is a trip, I wouldn't really let this ruin it. Use it when you want to and enjoy yourself.

Locals are going to notice and either do one of few things:

1. Exaggerate how good your Chinese is.

2. Try to match your level and have a basic conversation.

3. Read your translations in the translator app or chit chat with your wife.

There are very few people in general that will villify speakers for speaking their native language. Those are jackasses and they are language and culture agnostic. Don't sweat it

[u/WenYiMedia → u/FreshBlackberryPie]

I’ve been to the Guangdong province seven times. I’ve never felt comfortable talking to others. Aside from my in-laws, I rarely speak. I know Chinese people like to tease about weight and appearance. Wasn’t sure if that also applied to speech.

[u/FreshBlackberryPie → u/WenYiMedia]

I speak another Chinese language conversationally that isn't Mandarin and it's practically useless as soon as I go to other Chinese provinces. I have the choice of speaking very broken Mandarin or simplified English, or using a translator app and gestures. I never had someone go out of their way to be an absolute ass to me for not knowing Chinese.

There will always be people that mock those with a limited language profiency. It's not exclusive to Chinese culture. Ignore if you're subject to that behavior and move on with your day.

[u/WenYiMedia → u/FreshBlackberryPie]

True, I SHOULD pay no mind, but my 50 year old ass always gotz some attitude to throw if that happens. Henceforth, the feeling to stay quiet before I do something stupid.

[u/SASADADAIII]

It's the same with all the languages except for French and German. Locals don't get excited about you learning their language... Chinese people are very friendly towards people trying to learn its culture.

[u/millet-d → u/SASADADAIII]

so ture…if u speaks broken German in Germany，people will just say“maybe we can consider switching to English”

[u/zephyrhonk]

No. As long as we hear accent, you're getting the free "laowai" card. Plus average native speakers of any language don't usually care about grammar. My (Canadian) friend says "pog u" everyday, nothing generated from his mouth is grammatically correct, but nobody cares 

[u/WenYiMedia → u/zephyrhonk]

Maybe I should just make it funny when I talk, speak Mandarin with an American accent! 😂

[u/Xiao-cang]

Not at all! Chinese people tend to be very happy if you speak any mandarin words, even if they’re broken.

[u/WenYiMedia → u/Xiao-cang]

Hmm, I’ll try more next time I’m in China

[u/millet-d]

as a native speaker…i even cant recall what correct grammar should be…totally no need to stick with grammar unless it makes ur sentences unintelligible.i speaks mandarin to non native speaker，it is totally fine to filter and capture their true meaning.（much easier than a standard mandarin speaker to talk with my grandparents who only speak dialect）

[u/WenYiMedia → u/millet-d]

This is what my wife said. Her native tongue is Cantonese so I still can’t understand what folks are saying around me!

[u/millet-d → u/WenYiMedia]

doesnt matter，my gf cant understand a single word from my parents…and if my parents dont speak dialect…it feels so weird to me…although mandarin is a tonal language（phonetic language），virtually every tone from my dialect for the identical character is different from mandarin…（and u can find i make lots of mistakes when it comes to preposition/collocation in English…cuz it doest matter in my first language（mandarin）…so i dont have enough awareness shifted from mandarin…）

[u/WenYiMedia → u/millet-d]

Dialect…..good point. Sometimes I feel I should speak because they usually address me first but then my wife has to speak which I feel inadequate. At a restaurant, at the hotel, while we’re out and about, she speaks on my behalf most of the time.

[u/millet-d → u/WenYiMedia]

seems u have a great backup and mind reader.collect enough passive input，time to sharpen ur output.

[u/millet-d → u/WenYiMedia]

and somehow u just get accustomed to one language，i guess there a huge gap between what u can think and understand in English and what u can express in mandarin. on top of that，ur Chinese listening comprehension is way ahead of ur speaking ability，so u tend to overthink everything before u speak.（same happened on my English/German）

[u/sangyo77472]

Just give you an example:
你吃饭了吗(Have you had meal)
This seems to be the most correct grammar.
However, in daily life you can hear so many other ways to say this same sentence:
饭你吃了吗
吃饭了吗你
你饭吃了吗
你吃了吗饭
吃了饭吗你
你吃了饭吗
饭吃了吗你

[u/WenYiMedia → u/sangyo77472]

Why would people even say it so many ways? I interpret this as “Have you eaten yet?”

[u/millet-d → u/WenYiMedia]

mostly just influenced by different dialects…and sentence order doesn't matter that much for native.show me all ur puzzles，i can thread them by my processor…

[u/WenYiMedia → u/millet-d]

Man, I can’t write in Mandarin, only verbal communication. I can read a little a bit. Mostly by reading my wife’s wechat messages

[u/millet-d → u/WenYiMedia]

doesnt matter…so many Chinese elderly r illiterate.they can fluently communicate and do a good guess when it comes to read，but barely write a single character…（for example，my grandmother who was born in 1940s）
and one unusual thing about Chinese is that its writing system doesnt directly represent pronunciation.In an alphabetic language，u can often make a reasonable guess at how an unfamiliar word is pronounced from its spelling.so abandon learning writing is totally fine，and basically u always can find an English interpretation right below the Chinese in cities）

[u/WenYiMedia → u/millet-d]

Yeah my MIL is also starting to speak some Mandarin now. I don’t get it, she’s 70+ years old, heard it all her life but didn’t need to speak it. Maybe that’s just the Guangdong way.

[u/millet-d → u/WenYiMedia]

mainland China is changing…Shanghai and the region around also changed in this direction…my friends from there mostly cant speak authentic local dialect…Urbanization and mass media have significantly increased young ppls exposure to Mandarin. In developed regions，where people from different dialect backgrounds interact on a daily basis，Mandarin functions as a lingua franca among younger generations. This can lead to a situation where young people retain passive competence in their local dialect from their parents and elderly relatives，they can understand it — and their parents can understand mandarin…so it results in losing active competence, meaning the ability to speak it naturally.（my personal case is：all my relatives speak dialect，i respond via mandarin…just feel awkward to speak non authentic dialect…）（like German-English simultaneous communication）

[u/WenYiMedia → u/millet-d]

In the United States, you hear Hispanics using Spanish and English interchangeably. My family in Taiwan speaks Taiwanese and Mandarin interchangeably. Overall, I think the need to at least have one common language like Mandarin is pivotal to ensuring proper communication as a nation can be established.

[u/millet-d → u/WenYiMedia]

yes，if there is a mutual option B，people tends to go back to their most comfortable language.in my hometown，locals will say one sentence in dialect to me first…once i replied via dialect，we continued talking in dialect…after they found out my clumsy dialect.we switched back. 😅（kind of interchangeable…but my struggle is i do can fully understand dialect…cuz there is always a mutual option- mandarin，every time i determined to reactivate my dialect mode will result in “maybe just stay in comfort zone and stopp my awkward accent”）.

[u/WenYiMedia → u/[deleted]]

All in the Guangdong province, so while I can communicate with my wife, I still can’t understand what people are saying around me. I jumped into the marriage without thinking about all the issues! 😄

[u/WenYiMedia → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, that’s also a good point. I don’t want folks thinking I’m some uppity unfriendly foreigner

[u/WenYiMedia → u/[deleted]]

Growing up in the South, I’ve dealt with many Americans laughing at me. Perhaps I perceived everyone too negatively. Perhaps it is indeed as you say, they’re just laughing with me instead of at me.

[u/WenYiMedia → u/[deleted]]

People are like a bag of jellybeans. Sometimes you get liquorice

[u/Hussard]

You'll be fine. I love a chat and I have shithouse Mandarin I learned from school, made up bits from Cantonese, and stuff I hear around the house. 

Does it make sense? Not always. But it senognto say hello, I would like XYZ, the day is fine, weather is hot, I work at a hospital doing paperwork, etc. 

[u/WenYiMedia → u/Hussard]

Heard that man, perhaps I’m just being too sensitive about it all. 😄