When I tell people that I can write and speak fluent Chinese, they usually respond, "That's impossible. Isn't Chinese language is harder than any other language in the world?" I tell them that one thing makes Mandarin Chinese easy to learn: there are so many people to practice with!
In Internet usage,China maybe has already surpassed the US. One estimation says that about 200 million people in China are on the 'net (that's more surfers than the US, but still only 1/6 of the Chinese population). Many of these Chinese Internet surfers are curious about the outside world and they are eager to make friends with foreigners. What you need is only a place to meet online.
Once you find Chinese friends, Learning Chinese is a breeze. Since English is a required class through High School in China, the first barrier to communication is gone.
Chinese writing is one of the hardest barriers to crack when learning Chinese language. However, don't worry about learning brush strokes and calligraphy—this is the Internet age. Pinyin is essentially the English alphabet,and most people use it to input Chinese characters on their computer on a normal keyboard. It's just a matter of remembering how to spell the words, and Pinyin is much simpler than English spelling! Most computers already have this input method installed as an option.
It's even easier to recognize characters,especially when you see them used in conversation. There are lots of dictionary websites where you can copy and paste Chinese characters, and see the meaning and pronunciation. And if you have any questions on the meaning of a character, ask someone online. Finally, if you don't want to learn any characters, just chat in Pinyin (writing Chinese with the English alphabet) and you can concentrate on conversation skills, vocabulary, and cultural exchange.You’ll find that learning Chinese writing isn’t so difficult after all.
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