John Smith and Li Wei are talking about learning the Chinese language.
John Smith
你觉得外国人学中文最难的是什么?Nǐ juéde wàiguórén xué Zhōngwén zuì nán de shì shénme? TranslateWhat do you think is the most difficult thing for foreigners learning Chinese?
Li Wei
你在学中文。 你应该更了解呀。Nǐ zài xué Zhōngwén. Nǐ yīnggāi gèng liǎojiě ya. TranslateYou are learning Chinese. You should know it better.
John Smith
我觉得中文是最难学的语言! Wǒ juéde Zhōngwén shì zuì nánxué de yǔyán! TranslateI think Chinese is the most difficult language to learn!
Li Wei
其实中文的语法比欧洲语言的语法容易多了。Qíshí Zhōngwén de yǔfǎ bǐ ōuzhōu yǔyán de yǔfǎ róngyì duō le. TranslateIn fact Chinese grammar is much easier than the grammar of European languages.
John Smith
可是中文的声调和汉字太难学了。 Kěshì Zhōngwén de shēngdiào hé Hànzì tài nánxué le. TranslateBut the tones and characters in Chinese are too difficult to learn.
Li Wei
别着急。 只要你多多练习就一定能学会。 Bié zháojí. Zhǐyào nǐ duōduō liànxí jiù yídìng néng xuéhuì. TranslateDon’t worry. As long as you practice more often, then you can definitely learn how to do it.
John Smith
汉字有五万多个。怎么可能全部都学会呢?Hànzì yǒu wǔ wàn duō ge. Zěnme kěnéng quánbù dōu xuéhuì ne? TranslateThere are more than 50,000 characters. How is it possible to learn all of them?
Li Wei
不用全部都学会。一般中国人会四五千个字就够了。Búyòng quánbù dōu xuéhuì. Yìbān Zhōngguórén huì sì wǔ qiān ge zì jiù gòu le. TranslateIt is not necessary to learn all of them. Normally a Chinese person knows 4,000 to 5,000 characters, and that is enough.
John Smith
要能看懂报纸,需要会多少个字?Yào néng kàn dǒng bàozhǐ, xūyào huì duōshǎo ge zì? TranslateHow many characters should you know to read newspapers?
Li Wei
学会常用的两千五百个字就够了。 Xuéhuì chángyòng de liǎng qiān wǔ bǎi ge zì jiù gòu le. TranslateIt is enough if you have learnt the most frequently used 2,500 characters.