That one guy that says "Sometimes I wonder, why I even went to school" is a big mood. EDIT: how would I know the translation is wrong? I don't speak Chinese 😂

Whenyou realize that drawing a thumb is probly easier than writing the word thumb in chinese...

Me teaching myself Chinese using KZfaq 👁️👄👁️ What a motivational video full of positive vibes

if you ask any student in middle or high school, they could easily ace the test since they’re writing every day. When you graduate and stop handwriting essays and start typing, you quickly forget everything.

Chinese Language has 92,000 characters. 14,000 characters are taught in 10 years of schooling. Only around 3,000 characters are needed in daily life conversation or to read a newspaper.

* creators of Chinese language : how many characters should Chinese have ? *Chinese language: yes

Native English speakers struggle with English. A good example: "your" and "you're."

The situation is even worse for us who write traditional Chinese. I’m in my 30’s. I didn’t really realise the issue until I wanted to send a postcard to my friend while traveling. I suddenly found myself struggling a bit. From then on, I started to write Chinese for 15 mins every day (e.g. copy from a newspaper article) and my muscle memory has returned. It has also become some sort of therapy for me when I can sit down quietly and focus on doing one thing only. 多寫多練習，別無他法！

LANGUAGE: Chinese DIFFICULTY LEVEL :Chinese

Chinese: * 80,00 characters * English: *laughs in 26 letters *

"the test won't be that difficult" The test: write an essay using traditional Chinese in about 2000 words

For those wondering why people can recognise characters but can't write them. Imagine trying to draw the symbol for nuclear hazards or bio waste, you'd have difficulty drawing it perfect but when you see it you can recognise it immediately.

As a n00b studying Chinese in my free time, it's actually a bit comforting to see native speakers mess up writing relatively basic words. :)

Me: *literally started learning chinese 2 days ago* KZfaq: give up already Edit (3months later): 谢谢你们, actually I've improved a lot

Asian Mom: Such a disgrace, cant even memorize 9000 words.

As an adult in China, most of the time all you really need to do is to be able to recognize the characters, which is a lot easier than memorizing each little detail of every character, because a lot is electronic nowadays. Students though, they have to know these for their classes.

Girl: I know all of the characters Random reporter: Pls write down "thumb" Girl: Eh? LUL

Haha the guy killed me when he said "at this point I'm just drawing pictures." He and I could be friends 😁

As a Chinese learner, this makes me feel so much better! I’ve taken chinese classes at the advanced and superior level, but still forgot how to write a ton of characters 😩😩

Me : lets learn Hanzi and Kanji Also my brain : の

We use pinyin too much lol. One example of the differences between simplify and traditional writing is the word 'spirit' Simplify wiriting 灵 Traditional writing 靈

girl: "i think i know all the characters" after toothpaste: "WHATS THE TOP ONE"

This gives me hope as a learner, that I don't hvae to be perfect.

The second character in "toothpaste" literally has 10 horizontal lines. Dude, how do they write them neatly?

Omg how am I supposed to get motivation to learn Chinese now?

You know a language is hard when even native speakers struggle with it 😂

Fun fact: Due to the difficulty of Chinese characters, the Koreans removed Chinese characters (called "Hanja", which made up about 30% to 50% of Korean written language back then) from the Korean written system to make it easier to learn. Whereas the Japanese kept the Chinese characters (called "Kanji", which also makes up about 30% to 50% of Japanese written language now) to this day.

I think mandarin is hard only because of its writing system and pronunciation, but I find its grammatical structure simpler and easier than Spanish and English (the two languages I speak fluently). Greetings from 墨西哥🇲🇽！

Me: forgets math after leaving school for a while. In China: forgot written language

Being a Chinese novelist must be the hardest job in the world 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

These characters are not hard, in fact, they are very common words, but many modern Chinese in their age of 20-40 forget how to write them because they are used to type the words on their mobile devices or computers instead of writing them on paper.

I liked this because it makes me feel better about my own lack of ability to remember the characters I study. Also, I was happy to see that among the interviewees, young and old alike, they felt the situation should be reversed through more awareness and more actual writing. That is equally true even in western languages, I believe.

As a native speaker, I was testing myself while watching this video as well. I have to say this test is intentionally choosing words which are quite common and hard to write in the same time. I won't be surprised that 80% Chinese people cannot write the second character in "喷嚏" (Sneeze), cuz 1. it's really a complicated character. 2. We don't write it very often. 3. This character only occur in this single word, which give it less chance to be written in daily life. Everyone can still read it. Anyway, if you are learning Chinese, don't be discouraged by this video. Think in another way, you don't need to remember every character to learn Chinese, even native speaker can't.

Me **Already learning chinese** Random chinese person: There are about 80000 characters Me: *The* *What*

Girl: "I think i know all the characters." Interviewer: "Imma end this guy's whole career."

I’m native speaker of Chinese. I honestly say I agree with this social experiment. I forgot how to write Chinese.

for those of you confused about typing: chinese has developed a way to represent the pronounciation as pinyin (literally "put sounds together") like if I wanted to type out "你好" which means "hello" I wouldn't need to actually write it out on my computer these two words are pronounced "ni hao", and so I type "n i h a o" and there's a bunch of options for "ni" and a bunch of options for "hao" and I choose the one that I want to type out because almost every single chinese word has a homophone. so basically even if you don't know the exact strokes (like the people here and me sometimes fdjalafd I failed my own languge) as long as you know how to pronounce it and had a basic memory of what it looks like you can type ------------------------ the traditional vs simplified thing **taiwan, hongkong, and macau mainly uses traditional today while the mainland uses simplified** because traditional chinese is hella hard people decided to simplify the characters to make it easier for people to learn for example, 運動 => 运动 （exercise) 高興=>高兴 (happy) 義=>义 (justice) 參與=> 参与 (participate) + almost half of the rest of the words although the mainland doesn't use traditional as much (on the left) many can still figure out what it's trying to say based on the knowledge of the simplified version. for example, me myself only knows how to write the simplified version but since the traditional looks very similar I can still type it out, but I won't be able to hand write traditional characters there are also characters that doesn't have a simplified version: 吃=> 吃 (eat) 玩=> 玩 (play) 一二三四五六七八九十百千 (one two three four five six seven eight nine ten hundred thousand) yeah ok

大家早上好。作为一名印度人，我认为我们亚洲居民应该团结起来，重视彼此学习语言。我喜欢 Chinna，她的人民，传统，最重要的是

This is the most interesting of all your interviews. I hope you will do more on other languages and literacy.

I find that Chinese words have very deep meaning. Like the word "好" (hao) or good. It is a character made of a woman and a child symbol. So that's what the Chinese consider as good: a love of a mother to her child. So even though Chinese words are hard, I really love the meaning. You cant get that from any other language.

10,000 characters??? I can only imagine a Chinese version of Sesame Streets whom after 5 years, are still not yet done singing all of the Chinese characters.. 😂😂😂

I'm a Japanese high school student studying Chinese. I'm relieved to know that Chinese people have kanji that they cannot write as well as Japanese people.

Thank you for this!! As a new learner of Chinese, I get so mad at myself for not remembering how to write certain characters! It is such a relief to know that even native speakers cannot remember how to write them. I feel much better now, :-)

traditional Chinese is harder to write... like 忧郁 is simplified Chinese 憂鬱 is traditional Chinese they all mean melancholy.....

2:35 "At this point, I'm just drawing pictures" BIG MOOD

As a native Chinese I have to say that writing Chinese is not that hard if you keep practicing it - pick any random high school student on the street and they would be able to write relatively well (because ofc they have to write essays at school lol) The problem is that people tend to forget the writing system when they go off to uni or leave school. Typing is totally different with writing in Chinese.

5:04 In that accent, I think that was actually “I’m a programmer” rather than “I’m a correspondent.”

Most of us can recognise and read the words but writing is like a whole new level

do you notice , 2:41 the guy at behind walk backwards

Chinese natives and learners: crying Meanwhile Korean learners who are recommended to learn Hanja : For what crime have i been given this penalty? 👁👄👁

Chinese is an interesting language with a very beautiful script. This script teaches people be to modest and patient. There is no end in learning Chinese. Fun fact. Before the introduction of alphabetic script, Greek was written with a script that had ideographic characters, similar in faction with the Chinese characters. For details, please check about Linear script B.

I can write Chinese Chinese .

That’s the big difference with Chinese and alphabetic languages like English or Korean, it’s insanely difficult to master or even learn hence why King Sejong invented the Korean language due to his subjects being unable to learn Chinese. Personally as a Chinese-American I can speak fluently, read semi-fluently, but can barely write. It’s not easy. 😅

Love Asian Boss. Kudos! I agree learning Chinese characters is REALLY a challenge!

the reason why actual chinese people may forget how to write characters is because nowadays when using computers, they usually use pinyin, and thus this “character amnesia” occurs

Okay , as a Chinese myself 😓 after watching this video I just find out that I can't write many characters either...

King sejong of korea saw this problem hundreds of years ago and created hangul because chinese was so hard to learn

Chinese: our words are arts Also chinese: how do i write "sneeze"!? Its too complicate!!!

I will admit this video restored my confidence in my ability to learn Chinese, ive only been learning for about 28 days and to see that Chinese themselves have difficulties id say I'm doing well so far

When people mock them for not being able to write toothpaste or thumb, yet fail to differenciate though and thought or even your and you're 😬

Me : I bought some Chinese books yesterday KZfaq : I'm gonna end this dude new year resolution

This is a great point to bring up. As someone who studies Chinese language, specifically 繁體字 or traditional characters, I do notice that it’s easy to forget certain character. However, as soon as you see the character, you immediately recognize it. It’s cool knowing now, though, how this phenomenon is not simply limited to people who study Chinese as a second language.

I’m even worse- I can listen and understand intermediate phrases but when I need to use them in my own verbal sentences I forget them, never mind knowing how to write them

Just to show you guys how much more complicated some traditional characters are than their simplified equivalents: 1. Turtle 烏龜（乌龟）2. Melancholy 憂鬱（忧郁）3. Taiwan 臺灣（台湾）4. Experience 體驗（体验）5. Switch 開關（开关）⋯⋯There’s much more examples like these. Of course there’s also examples of traditional characters not so much more complicated than their simplified forms. For example, 1. Fish 魚（鱼）2. Door 門（门）3. Red 紅（红）4. Blue 藍（蓝）5. Yellow 黃（黄）⋯⋯As you can see, actually most of the simplified characters and their traditional roots look alike (at least to us Chinese lol), so usually people educated in simplified Chinese can also read BUT NOT write traditional Chinese, and vice versa for people educated in traditional Chinese. Some people though, like myself, can both read and write both simplified and traditional characters because I guess although I’m a mainlander from Guangzhou (educated in simplified Chinese), I grew up with a lot of TV shows from Hong Kong (in traditional Chinese). Hope this is helpful to some of you that are interested in Chinese. :)

Lmao I'm Chinese so I'm good I remember this post in tumblr like " japanese is such a kind language if you can't write in kanji you can write hiragana and everyone will understand Meanwhile in Chinese a little change and my mom becomes a horse " Which is true,, Fun fact when I get overly pissed I start screaming in Chinese it's just a habit lmao

Another way is they should try typing Chinese but using hand-writing mode sometimes in a while, to practice the strokes more often~ I agree the Traditional chinese writings could convey very deep meaning and are just simply beautiful

Learning to write has one advantage: it helps you to memorize the form, and thus you are more likely to recognize the character when it comes up. The same principle can be applied to memorize English words. As a bi-lingual, I find this particular learning experience quite similar: learning how to write/spell is always helpful for the memory. (Note: Chinese characters are not equivalent to letters, and the characters are equivalent to English words.) I don't think people need to worry about the future of hanzi, because the characters are actually highly functional and practical linguistic tools. For daily users/readers, the existence of hanzi are NOT solely for aesthetic purpose. The current practice of digital input actually shows how the Chinese culture (language) is integrated with modern technology. The integration between traditions and contemporary lifestyle has actually been a recurring phenomenon that has appeared throughout Chinese history (most of the time). Many interviewees didn't seem to think this question through, but the question itself wasn't easy to answer in short. Also, the statement at around 6:05 is NOT fully correct. Many of the simplified characters were actually derived from historical, alternative forms of traditional characters. Many commonly used simplified characters had already existed throughout history, although their usages were not widespread or mainstream until modern eras.

Ok. I am chinese malaysian. Honestly, i never passed my chinese language in high school. My english was the best during that time. I often mix some english words when i speak chinese and it's really embarrasing.

Thank you so much, king Sejong for making Hangeul

I grew up in Europe in a Chinese family. I learnt Chinese as a kid but mostly speaking so I can barely read and write. If I want to write Chinese symbols on my phone, I also use pinyin because I know how to say it. And then I choose whatever symbol seems right with my very limited knowledge (I can maybe recognize max. 200 symbols compared to ca. 5000 that you need for daily life). And then I put my sentence in Google translate to double check whether it made sense what I wrote. Works pretty well actually although I can neither write nor READ :D

You should do a version of this video for traditional characters in Hong Kong or Taiwan.

"I can actually write more Traditional Chinese"...at 6:38 It's b/c that guy is from Taiwan. His accent was a big tell.

"characters are just a way to communicate" Boom, thousands of years of Chinese culture gone

Simplifying the language was necessary so that the people could communicate more efficiently. This also allowed the country to develop more rapidly as a whole.

It makes me feel better, but I still thinking hanzi is very important... So I will remember this video when I'm studying

I want to learn chinese *watches this* 哈哈 :(

then there is me who wants to learn chinese

Interesting topic.Never new about it🌊

nice video, it helps reduce my stress recently, i am learning Chinese myself and get stuck with memorizing characters and become mad, now i know even native speaker still face the same problem, so it made me less worry now.

Am coming back here after 1 year learning chinese: Me that time : what ?? 现在:什么??

Well, in Vietnamese, you can always write a word perfectly right no matter how hard it is to pronounce or if you've never heard that word before :) Also, you can pronounce a word 100% correctly by looking at its written form as well even if you have no idea what the word means :) and I feel grateful for that :) Anw, I'm studying Chinese, and from my point of view it is such an amazing language. Chinese intonation is really comfortable to listen to, and Chinese characters are so interesting to learn that I never get bored of them. In fact I enjoy writing the most among the 4 skills. Being a Vietnamese also makes it much easier for me to learn Chinese, since both languages have many things in common (especially a large part of Vietnamese vocabulary was borrowed from Chinese which we call “Han-Viet” words, and these words must account for like 60% of our total vocabulary I believe)

The reason is most of younger used the pinying as input method on their PC and mobile phone. the pinying is focus on the pronunciation of hanzi , but not the structure of hanzi. I always meet the situation that I can pronunce the word, but can not remember how to write it.

What a relief! I'm learning Chinese, the language has nearly 100k characters. I feel so relaxed seeing that we only need about 2-4k to communicate or read articles online or go to any visit any place that uses only Chinese characters. Still It'll take me about 3-4 years to learn those 2-3k characters and another 5-10 years to master it 💀

Ok. Now, make the same video in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan - regions with traditional characters.

The guy at the back at 2:43 *me being extra when sees a video shooting😂*

As a half-chinese that is partially fluent, it's kinda comforting to see completely chinese ppl mess up sometimes and is reassuring that its not only me lol

Now I realise how easy korean is 😂😂

As a Korean(i really loved studying Chinese when i was in high school and then, I met a great wall of Hanzi) Hanzi 😭 Pronounciation 😰(most difficult part) Grammars 😍 (it's totally different with Korean but easy to understand) When I learn Japanese, Grammars 😄 Pronounciation 😙 (slightly difficult for tsu and j sound but mostly ok) Kanji 😭 Fyi, for English, Grammars 😅(not that hard, but i don't think i can ever be perfect on this...) Pronounciation 😌 alphabet 😍 Newly created words and phrasal verbs i can't even guess the meaning 😢

Girl: I don't know them all, only the commonly used ones Me:Hahaha so you know about 50-100?(I know there are a hell lotta characters but not the exact count) Girl: I know only about 3000. Me: .......................

Each language will have quirks that are hard to learn, like the cases in German or the subjonctif in French, etc. It was impressive how educated, yet humble the interviewees were - they knew the words were chosen to be hard to write (eg. everyone would have got ren/person correct or shan/mountain, etc.), yet they were self-critical instead of defensive. Inspiring!

As a polyglot who speaks Mandarin, English, Danish, German, French, and Cantonese... I have to say Mandarin and Cantonese are the most difficult :( I share my experiences in my channel where you can hear how much I struggle with Mandarin and Cantonese!

I love how the one that was like "I know them all!" was the first to ask for help xD Love your videos, guys. They are really fun and at the same time educational. Keep up the good work!

Haha I’ve once forgot how to write my name in Chinese during a test! HARDEST QUESTION OF MY LIFE HAHA

1:02 ".. about 5000" oh my gosh how can u count ur characters that far, damnn respect

Nowadays students type Chinese characters on computer more than they write on paper. This is a major reason.

0:28 Why is that guy walking backwards in the background 😂😂😂

Me: I will learn and study Chinese, yahoohh!!! Asian Boss: I don't want you to be in trouble.

I love the one guy at the beginning when asked if he thinks he's familiar with all the Chinese characters, all I hear is a straight up "no" and absolutely no hesitation whatsoever XD!

Cool video! Would be badass if you make this video but with Thais and the Thai language.

Its like how english has a dictionary that is half a ruler thick, no one will ever know every single word in that book and half the time people need to ask others for the right word to something.