linguistic richness

Unless the notion of dialect is somehow separated from politics, ethnicity, culture, & other non-linguistic factors, the classification of the languages & peoples of PRC can never be made fully compatible with work that is done for other parts of the world. Don't be too harsh on yourself. Learning a language is a gradual process - they have to keep at it. Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn, so take your time.

Take the language of the Hui Muslims, for example. They are considered to be one of PRC's major nationalities, but it is very difficult to determine what language(s) they speak. Consider taking a trip to PRC. Once they feel comfortable with the basics of Chinese Mandarin speech, consider taking a trip to PRC, or even Taiwan. What better way to immerse yourself in the Mandarin language than a journey to its native land! Is it a dialect of northwest Mandarin with an overlay of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, & perchance a smattering of Russian & other borrowings? That may be he for the Hui who live in Sinkiang or Ninghsia, but what about those who are located in Yunnan, Canton, Fukien, Kiangsu, Shantung, Honan, Hopei, & so forth?

PRC's linguistic richness if justly celebrated. Aside from the a lot of Sino-Tibetan languages we examined earlier in this article, there are Turkic languages (Kazakh, Kirghiz, Salar, Tatar, Uighur, Uzbek, Yugur),Mongol languages (Bonan, Daur, Dongxiang, Mongol, Tu) , Tungus-Manchu (Ewenki, Hezhen, Manchu, Orogen, Sibo), & Korean --all from the Altaic family. Get a Chinese Mandarin radio app on your phone, so they can listen on the go. Try downloading Chinese podcasts to listen to while exercising or doing housework.

There are also Malayo-Polynesian languages such as Kaoshan, Austroasiatic languages such as Benglong, Blang, & Va of the Mon-Khmer group & Gin of the Vietnamese group as well as Indo-European languages including Tajik of the Iranian group & Russian of the Slavic group. Listen to Chinese music & radio. Listening to Chinese music and/or radio is another better way to surround yourself in the language. Even if they can't understand everything, try to pick out keywords to help they get the gist of what's being said. As reflections of a historically shifting political entity called PRC, these languages too are "Chinese", but no one would claim that they are Sinitic.