there seems to be certain definite similarities in certain words and the logic in which hindi and mandarin flow. besides the tongue moves similarly too in some cases. so may be hindi speakers have an advantage ..?
No not in terms of prosody because Mandarin is a tonal language with 4 basic tones. Both Hindi and English are not tonal languages. I would even suggest that Hindi's politeness hierarchy will be useful to master the different degree of pragmatics principles in Chinese interaction with different types of speakers (the variables include age, gender and seniority, kinship). Thanks
Absolutely no from the point of view of phonology, syntax or tone. Perhaps Mandarin an isolative language is nearer the isolative trend in English. But the question seems not pertinent, rather it might seem silly to some. See Wee Sew's answer.
Japanese could be "easier", since there is a bit more match between the grammars, word order, case marking and structures. (Mandarin would be much further away in "grammar space"). This is not a scientific definite answer, and based on very little evidence. One Japanese colleague learned Hindi to a useful level in a very short time. There are many reasons this could have happened: motivation, how clever the person was, or willingness to use the language, etc. Transfer is just one possibility.
It is an interesting question if some languages are easier to learn, and how much is possible to transfer from one language to another. In my own experience, there are languages that are easier to get started with, if you already have some of the core structures of that language from your previous language(s). More research is needed.
The connection between Hindi and Chinese may be farfetched. Two languages are comparable on the basis of syntax, phonic similarity and borrowed words and alphabets in relation to their learning advantage. Between Hindi and Mandarin, the syntax is totally different. Hindi uses SOV structure while Mandarin uses SVO structure. In spoken language, Mandarin and Cantonese are tonal languages; 4 tones and 9 tones respectively. Writing of Hindi and Chinese language have no more similarities than they can be written by pen! Hindi has a running writing pattern although this is shorter than the Dravidic Languages of India. Chinese both simplified and complex characters are made of strokes, the longest of them are made with a maximum of 2 corners.
There is a certain pronunciation advantage of certain sounds like the sh, zh, ss sounds could be common which are not very distinguishable in certain European languages.
From my teaching experiences and observations, Hindi speakers mostly pronounce incorrectly on initial "h". For example, they pronounce Mandarin syllables he [xɤ], hao [xau], hei [xei] , hen [xən], heng[xəŋ], hong [xuŋ] and hou [xou] with silent "h" sound. Beside that, Hindi speakers replace initial "h" to "w" on Mandarin syllables hu [xu], hua [xuᴀ], huai [xuai] , huan [xuan] , huang [xuaŋ] , hui [xuei] , hun [xuən] and huo [xuo].
i will cite a few examples-
1. hindi also makes use of context in understanding and communication just like mandarin. ex : yeh mere mister hain/yeh mere wo hain/ yeh mere! which means this or he is my husband and similarly in mandarin xuenshang means Mr but husband can be implied in the same sense as in the example i gave.
2. the "c" sound is very similar to the chh sound of hindi as in chhata ( umbrella), the "e" sound is widely used in hindi and basically there are many such phonetic similarities.
3. what i meant was there are many phonetic, contextual and probably cultural similarities in hindi and mandarin which may be makes it easier to a hindi speaker than say an english speaker.
may be not enough research has been done on this field. there arent enough hindi-chinese speakers in the world i guess!!
Sandeep Saini.....
You have placed two arguments. One is on the syntax of the sentences. The other one the phonetic similarity. Based on the basic syntax of sentences you will find similarity among one-third of all the languages used in the world. Regarding the vowels in Hindi especially 'e', it is a vowel used by most languages of the world. it will be difficult to prove these similarities result from a cultural proximity.
Eg. 他是我的先生。(SVO) structure
1. wo mera pati hei. (SOV)
2. Ua angni segipa onga (Garo) (SOV) (Tribal Language of Meghalaya) India
3. U dei u briew jong nga (Khasi) (SVO) (Tribal Language of Meghalaya) India
4. ഇയാൾ എന്റെ ഭർത്താവാകുന്നു. (SVO) (Dravidic Language of Kerala) India
5. This is my husband. (SVO)
Even in the phrasing technique languages 2, 4, 5 match in the equivalent usage of mera pati structure.
Regarding the vowels in Hindi especially 'e', it is a vowel used by most languages of the world. it will be difficult to prove these similarities result from a cultural proximity.
I find the structure I gave for no.4 is mistaken. It should be an SOV instead of SVO
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