Workaholics Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Workaholics - Research Proposal Example The interest on the topic emerged from recognizing that current job responsibilities in various work endeavors tend to manifest increasing challenges that necessitate longer working hours than expected. As organizations have been continually besieged with economic and financial challenges, in conjunction with increasing competition, various strategies that aim to minimize cost from the workforce include requiring current personnel to do multi-tasking activities and assuming responsibilities of others. The current study therefore aims to determine the impact of adding responsibilities and work load on a limited pool of personnel in the long run. Miller, G. (2010, October 12). The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World – When do we Draw the Line? Retrieved from 20 Something Finance: http://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/ Rettner, R., & MyHealthNewsDaily. (2013, January 29). Overworked Doctors May Jeopardize Patient Safety. Retrieved from Scientific American:

Organisational Behaviour Literature Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organisational Behaviour - Literature review Example In this situation, it is the duty of company to motivate them and make them work in the previous pace. They might think of themselves as victims who would work on whatever the organizations assign them to do as they consider it as the company’s grace. If the employees work in this state of mind then it would be very difficult for organization to achieve the objective of downsizing (Wagner, 1991). However, a smaller proportion of people take it as exciting and career expanding because they become optimistic about themselves, optimistic in a way that there must be some extraordinary quality in them; this did not let them go out of the organization. Nevertheless, one cannot deny that larger proportion of people is always in fear and organizations must take some impactful steps to bring them on the right track. Alcoa Inc. an aluminum producing company faces the same situation during many mergers and other developmental efforts. It is one of the largest creators of air pollution in united states proving to be harmful for many human lives therefore it became urgent and serious for it to take a step. Alcoa therefore invested $330 million in a plant to help reduce the emissions such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. As one can see that $330 million is not small amount of money, therefore they must have thought of implementing downsizing in the company making many of their employees leave the jobs. Moreover, in 2006 installed a new plant in its branch of Swansea again requiring a huge amount of money generated by reduction in administrative costs. A joint venture of Alcoa and Alumina Limited might have caused the need for downsizing too. All these instances left Alcoa’s remaining employees with a low morale and spirit to work and managers with a great worry and apprehension of low productivity. However, one should not lose hope keep striving to achieve the best. Firstly, knowing the reasons that make employees not feel easy after downsizing would be a great help in understanding their emotions and treat them in view of that. One of the reasons is that they do not have interest in learning new skills because they assume that this will increase their workload. Naturally, no one likes to work more than he was doing earlier with a good salary. However, organizations need to change this behavior of employees buy assuring them that new skills will work in their favor, making them more profitable for the company and provide them with more chances of personal growth in the industry. Additionally, they would get more compensation with higher profits ultimately building their self-esteem and self-security. In any case, employees should feel that they contribute in the growth and development of the company this would stimulate them to work more passionately and ardently. Another reason of breaking of trust and emotions of employees is that they have lost some of very close colleagues and friends. Some might feel guilty that some of their friend lost their jobs because they were give preferences over them. All these problems occur because different people react differently towards change. Some have difficulty in accepting the change; others will find great opportunities behind them. Change, which is demolishing for ones, might prove to be exciting for others. Some express their anger and frustration, while others fight with it silently. Some get release after complaining whereas others talk a lot but actually are encouraging the

The Santa Clara University ethics committee stated Essay Example for Free

The Santa Clara University ethics committee stated Essay he function of morals in society is more or less to distinguish between what is best for society as a whole, generally speaking, the way for the most people to be happy. Drugs in society are looked down upon, though widely used throughout civilization. More importantly, drugs are given a negative outlook especially when they put other innocent lives in danger. Drugs in the workplace create hazard upon hazard no matter what the job may be, however, people have the right to do whatever they want on their own free time, as long as it does not cause harm to others. This is where a moral dilemma is developed. Are the rights of others to have a safe working environment greater than the right to privacy? The morality of drug-testing is more than just a matter of drug-abuse in the workplace, as it presses the issue of an employees basic right to privacy as well as an employers right to getting the most out of each of their employees. Employers have the right to getting the most out of each worker and employees have the duty to protect society from any harm, financial, physical, or emotional. Therefore if employees must take drug tests to prove their ability, than drug testing should be morally and ethically acceptable. The 4th amendment guarantees citizens the right to privacy as long as what they do in their private lives does not harm other people. It has been argued time and time again that drug testing steals this right from people, and maybe in some ways it does. People do have the right to treat themselves how they want, and also have the right to enjoy life however they choose to enjoy it. As long as these measures go to an extent at which they violate no moral or ethical codes, privacy is surely acceptable. The idea of drugs entering the workplace is a threat to not only the user, but also employers themselves, the co-workers around them, and the innocent citizens of society. Â  Employers give opportunity to employees. This is called the Employment at Will principle. Employers hire based on who will make their business run on all cylinders, at the best possible production rate. The more productive the business, the more financially secure the business may become. So when an employee is not pulling his or her weight, the company must fix the problem or release the worker in order to find someone better prepared for the criteria the job entails. It is pure common sense that doing anything while under the influence of drugs or alcohol that the production is significantly diminished. The Santa Clara University Ethics Committee stated, Employers have a moral right to a fair days work in exchange for a fair days pay (SCU 1998). They claim that employers have the right to inquire into anything that seriously interferes with an employee rendering a fair days work (SCU 1998). Drugs and alcohol on the workplace only hurt the employer. That means the chance they took with the user failed them and that their business is not running as solid and smoothly as it should. Even more reason for employers to be pro-drug testing is some startling facts concerning drugs at work. First and foremost, the fact that approximately forty-four percent of young adults admit to having used drugs in the past year. These are all people entering the workforce. With this statistic in mind, it is only common sense for employers to fear that they are not getting the most out of each of their employees. If nearly one in every two workers is not performing the way they ought to be, then the business is probably not producing as well as it could be. The second figure that brings about major consideration is that drug and alcohol abuse cost employers nearly $100 billion in lost productivity per year. The number itself hurts the credibility of any worker, but more importantly, forces the employer to believe that their business may fall into that lost $100 billion somewhere. Why should an employer fear losing a great deal of money because their employees, who are given the opportunity to work and make money, are coming to work under the influence of drugs and alcohol? Philosopher Hugh LaFollette stated, Employers can make extensive demands on their employees, simply because it is their pleasure. The employer is giving the employee a chance to make a living. If the employee wants to retain a job, they need to show respect to their employer by not working while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The employer owns the business; therefore the employer sets the standards. Â  Society as a whole is expected morally to protect each of their citizens, and if drugs are being brought into the workplace, a major moral dilemma is brought to attention. It is a fact that drugs and alcohol, while used on the job, can only cause harm. One survey reported that employees who are drug users have three times the accident rate as non-users.

Waste Land Essay: Superficiality in The Waste Land -- T.S. Eliot Waste

Superficiality in The Waste Land  Ã‚   The Waste Land is concerned with the 'disillusionment of a generation'. The poem was written in the early 1920's, a time of abject poverty, heightening unemployment and much devastation unresolved from the end of WW1 in 1918. Despite this, or because of it, people made a conscientious effort to enjoy themselves. In doing so they lost their direction, their beliefs and their individuality. They were victims of the class system which maintained a system of privilege, snobbery and distrust. Advances in machinery brought new products onto the market, like cars, but the people were so disillusioned with the social turmoil caused by four years of war, that even the glamour of new possessions could not fill the spiritual and emotional void left by the war. The consciousness of a nation had been battered into submission by the horrors of the first world war that people now were living a shell of what was once life. People went through the motions of life but there was no feeling just a mecha nical existence. This kind of surface existence, the inability to see beyond the obvious, is portrayed throughout the Wasteland. The Wasteland is a soulless picture of a world deprived of fertility. Everything has become sterile in this barren landscape, people have nowhere left to look but to the outer shell because the inside is emotionally dead. As a result, the characters of The Wasteland are superficial in every sense of the word. Some are obsessed with appearance. Others are so far detached from the things that make life more than just breathing and looking good, that they perpetuate the destructive cycle that is slowly killing them and their world. They exist without hope, faith and spiritual enlightenme... ...t could bring life to the Wasteland, then there would be hope. Water of course becomes symbolic of faith. Eliot's message is if we had faith, then the world would begin to take root again. Eliot suggests that our superficiality is replaced by 'Datta... Dayadhvam..Dumyata' 'give, sympathise, control'. Our superficial nature has left us in an uncontrollable, unsympathetic, mean wasteland. In short, superficiality is portrayed throughout The Wasteland. Those who inhabit the land exist without faith and reject enlightenment because they are too concerned with appearances, money and other such inconsequential matters that they have lost the ability to recognize what is needed to make life better. 'Do You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember Nothing? Works Cited: Eliot, T. S. The Waste Land and Other Poems. Harcourt Brace & Company: New York, 1958.

Definition of love Essay

Is there a specific and accurate definition of love? The true meaning of love is very difficult to find for adults. Do adolescents mature enough to manage love? It is too complex to define love in one word. Even though adolescents are physically matured like adults, they still need to develop mentally because they are still insecure. Teenagers are like thin glass cups; their appearance and mind seem clean and transparent, but they are delicate and can be broken easily.. I have observed closely from SAT preparation academy called Honors Review Learning Center in Tenafly, New Jersey. I was in 10th grade geometry class and pre-calculus class to survey, and I also tutor students for extra help. With these I was able to gather that there were seven to eight students in a class room, but they were mostly Asians. There was only one white boy in that class, this was because of the low population of this town; Tenafly has large population of Korean. When I observed geometry class, I was not able to ask questions from each and every one of them, but I noticed that boys tend to seat with boys while girls seat close to one another. They are all from same high school, so during the break time, they will gather and hang out together in a classroom. However, in Pre-calculus class, students are from different school, so they seat together without forming any groups or clique. They tend to do things separately even during the break time, like talking on the cell phone, texting with friends, or doing their works. However, after few days, students get to know one another and they started to seat by genders again. Having noted all this, I decided to focus my observation on gender of adolescents. After two hours of class, I tutored Jason Moon for extra help. I explained the materials that he did not understand in class. Although, I attended this academy during my high school year, it was only for private tutoring. However, the tradition of intense focus on secondary school education continues to be strong and seems to endure more, than my high school years. Jason is fifteen years old and he is a student of Tenafly High school. Jason’s parent work together, therefore he has to remain in this academy until his mother is done with her job. However, after two hours of class, Jason seems to lose concentration when he studies with me, so we spend more time talking to each other than studying. Jason is an Asian American student, but his parents are both Asian Asians. When I told him that I attended New York University, he was more interested in parties and girls in the city, instead of the college life in the city. He has very outspoken personality and likes hanging out with friends. He told me he is in a relationship with two girls, although both relationships are not a serious type. However, one of the girls wants him to be committed. Then, I asked if he had had any sexual relationship with any of them, but he said no. The girl was not born in the United States; she came from Korea several years ago. So, I tried to enlighten him that there are cultural differences in dating. I also told him that Asian women devote themselves to their boyfriends or husbands, and they very serious about commitment issues. However, in America, dating tends to be much less formal. Adolescent boys and girls still go together to events, and they spent more time together informally. The second girl that Jason was dating was born in the United States. She tends to date less formerly than the other girl, so, she does not want to commit herself to Jason. American adolescents begin dating earlier today than before, and their dating behavior tends to follow a sequence. First, same gender looks for place where they can meet other groups of different gender, mixed gender group arranged to go to the same events together, and adolescent couples begin to date as pairs. It has also been noted that biological maturity has slight effects on the timing of dating for different individual. Adolescents date for recreation, companionship, intimacy and courtship, but these reasons change along with people’s age. As emerging adulthood, people tend to seek something different apart from their romantic partners. However, dating is usually and generally related to positive development of adolescents. Robert J. Sternberg, a cognitive psychologist, stated that three fundamental qualities of love are passion, intimacy, and commitment. These can be merged into seven different forms of love, which are liking, infatuation, empty love, romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, and consummate love. Jason’s relationship with the Asian American girl does not have long term commitment, which means that there are two principal types of love being practice by Jason; infatuation and empty love. However, the first girl was looking for romantic love and companionate love. Feelings of passion appear to be virtually universal characteristic of adolescents’ love, and romantic love is more based on marriage, which is the characteristics of adults, but it is also related to cultural differences of dating behaviors. Jason told me that he feels more comfortable dating the Asian American girl than the other girl. People of all ages tend to have romantic relationships with people who are similar to them. I inquired from Jason if he feels comfortable talking about their sexual relationship, and he told me, he has not have any sexual relationships with of them yet, but he told me that he has practice other sexual behaviors, but not the sexual intercourse. Kissing and necking are the first sexual experiences most adolescents have with their sexual partner. The next sequential step would be petting. Therefore, dating and having sexual relationships would vary based on cultural differences. First, sexual intercourse has shown distinct ethnic differences. Recently, it has been noted that African American adolescents are more likely to move quickly to intercourse while Asian Americans are less likely to engage in sexual activity in their adolescences. It would be more accurate and effective if I was able to ask these kinds of questions from girls, but teenagers seem more comfortable discussing these kinds of information to someone of their gender and age group. I was born in Korea and lived in Korea for more than 15 years; this makes me more conservative about dating and sexual behavior than American students. In South Korea, boys and girls tend to separate themselves more than teenagers in the United States. Basic concepts of having relationship vary from culture to culture. Dating is even less formal in European societies, and also in non-western societies dating is fairly rare. In the United States, hugging and kissing is very common for greeting, but in Korea, the friendliest way of greeting other people is shaking hands. I was extremely surprised when I first came to America; I saw how they were very open-minded in terms of greeting others. Woman sitting on man’s lap in public is easily seen in America, but in Korea or any other Asian countries this is extremely rare. Moreover, the meaning of dating and having relationship varies in different cultures, but due to the development of technology, such as internet and media, the spread of American and European cultures of dating is fast spreading to Asia. Asian people today have become more aggressive and open-minded. There are three types of cultural approaches to adolescent sexuality: these are restrictive, semi restrictive, and permissive. American majority culture is probably best classified as semi restrictive. However this is shaded with ambivalence. For instance, the spread of internet had caused teenagers to adapt pornography earlier than before. Spreading of internet and media helps people to live better and comfortable lives, but it can also cause other teenage problems, such as teenage pregnancy and date rape. Sexual harassment includes mild harassment like name-calling, jokes, while severe harassment involves unwanted touching or sexual contact. Rates of sexual harassment in adolescence are strikingly high and it is often the continuation of patterns of bullying established before adolescence. In addition, females are more likely to be the victims while males are the harassers. Date rape takes place when a person is forced by a romantic partner, date, or has sexual intercourse against the partner’s will. Although there are no such occurrences of these inappropriate sexual conceptions in my observational place, however, it is more common in urban areas. Dating and relationship is constantly or more rapidly changing over time, not only from cultural differences, but also from advancement in technology. However, it is almost impossible to stop those two components. Based on my observation and my personal experience, the best way to lead the teenagers in right and appropriate manners is keep them active, make them do lots of healthy and productive activities. Also, by opening up this kind of conversation in the public, it will reduce teenage pregnancy and date rape. Forcing them and keeping them in-door might help at the initial stage, but it will cause even more terrible situations. If we know that our children will eventually date and have sexual relationship with someone, it would be better to teach them how to have a responsible relationship and safe sex before hand. This will reduce the teenage and unwanted pregnancy in our society. Therefore, we should come up with how to create more interesting and entertaining sex education to enlighten our teenagers in public.

Persepolis The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis The book Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Summary written by Marjane Satrapi is about a girl who describes her upbringing and life in her country, Iran. She enlightens us about the two main revolutions, the overthrowing of the Shah and the institution of the Islamic regime. Shah ruled with an iron fist who was helped by the British who saw nothing but the benefits and profits they stood to make. In a way we gain perspective about some of the misconceptions that are shown by the media about the Middle Eastern culture, religion, and beliefs. First off, Marjane was born during a time of war for her country, the Islamic Revolution. She was born into an upper middle class family. Both of her parents opposed Shah and constantly protested on a daily basis. Shah happened to be the last Qajar emperor of the country Iran. Many of Marjane’s family were known as communists and often jailed, held as a prisoner, or executed for their political beliefs and thoughts. The protests against Shah continuously grow and his rule becomes impossible! Shah eventually resigns to leave the country of Iran to join the oil industry in the United States. When shah steps down, most of the political prisoners are releases. Marjane discovers that her uncle who is also her hero helped declare independence from Shah. Her family grew courage and were enthusiastic about the overthrow of Shah. These events were often traumatizing to her and which is ultimately what led her to rebel againstShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Persepolis : The Story Of A Childhood By Marjane Satrapi758 Words   |  4 PagesIn light of the analysis of the graphic novel of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi, it is clear that events portrayed in the novel represent the tribulations and tragedies that various citizens of Iran experienced upon the downfall of Reza Shah, the Islamic Revolution, and the Iran-Iraq War. In terms of plot, the story is told through the memoirs of upper middle class Tehra n female citizen, Marjane Satrapi aka â€Å"Marji†, as she recounts her perceptions and views of the overthrowRead MorePersepolis Reflection Paper1578 Words   |  7 Pagesregarding Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi the class discussed many topics. As a group, we began by talking about the genre of the graphic novel. The artistic style and technique used by Satrapi was addressed specifically. I mentioned that I appreciated the mono color, by using black and white it effected the readers by making the text more serious. Another comment was added; the use of minimal color was effective. Another main topic discussed was the characterization of Marjane Satrapi. One classmateRead MorePoint Of View In Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi1498 Words   |  6 Pageswriting. Marjane Satrapi utilizes the impact that point of view has in her graphic novel Persepolis. The story, which is written as a memoir, includes Marjane herself in the images, which makes the text seem to be told from more of a limited third person point of view, while the narration of the story is told in the first person. By including herself in the images, Satrapi is better able to explain to the reader exactly what she went through, and emphasize exactly what she felt. Writing her story exclusivelyRead MoreCultural Acceptance in Marjane Satrapis Persepolis1616 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿Whitfield Logan English 102 Ighade 4-7-14 Cultural Acceptance in Persepolis Marjane Satrapi‘s graphic novel Persepolis  is an  autobiography that  depicts her childhood up to her early adult years in  Iran  during and after the  Islamic revolution.  Throughout the novel Satrapi incorporates character development, religion, and the conflict of freedom vs. confinement in order to develop a greater appreciation between two opposing eastern and western cultures. When analyzing the current relationshipRead MorePersepolis : The Story Of A Childhood1164 Words   |  5 Pagessituation. In the autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi, readers are able to focus on the honesty and emotion of stories to capture their own opinion on Iranians rather than previous assumptions. During the time of the novel, Marjane weaves through childhood in an environment that is full of war and political conflict. Slowly Iran turns into a physical and mental prison, and, like many other Iranians, Marjane struggles between finding herself and absorbingRead MorePersepolis1300 Words   |  6 PagesHas Many Meanings Persepolis is a story that is illustrated in black and white. The author, Marjane Satrapi, uses many visual techniques throughout the story to draw in the reader and develop the storyline. One of these visual techniques is that she chooses to use the color of the characters’ clothing as a representation of how they feel towards the revolution. The characters are shown wearing black, white, or a mixed black and white pattern. The characters in Persepolis are drawn with whiteRead MoreMarjane Satrapi s Depictions Of How She Lost Her Innocence1613 Words   |  7 Pages Marjane Satrapi’s Depictions of How She Lost Her Innocence Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir in which she shares her experiences growing up in Iran through her illustrations and captions. The majority of the memoir consists of Satrapi s childhood being spent observing the overthrowing of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the disastrous effects of the war with Iraq. She later spends her years in Vienna, but eventually, returns to her homeland as an adultRead MoreAnalysis Of Marjane Satrapi s Persepolis 1425 Words   |  6 Pagesdecades of research in the research field of political socialization has traced an individual’s ideology to childhood. Political socialization, the process by which an individual attains their political attitudes and values, argues that a number of agents, primarily family influences ideological development (Burnham). In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic autobiographical novel Persepolis, Satrapi affirms the notions of political socialization, specifically the importance of family as the primary agent ofRead MorePersepolis Assignment1402 Words   |  6 Pages Satrapi states in the introduction of the 2004 Pantheon version of The Complete Persepolis that Iran, an â€Å"old and great civilization[,] has been discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism.† She expresses that, â€Å"as an Iranian who has lived more than half of [her] life in Iran, [she] know[s] that this image is far from the truth. This is why writing Persepolis was so important to [her]. [She] believe[s] that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoingsRead MorePersepolis Marxism Analysis1133 Words   |  5 PagesEffects of Consumerism in Persepolis The Complete Persepolis, an autobiographical novel by Marjane Satrapi, tells the tale of Marjane’s childhood in Iran. In this story, Marjane (Marji) is brought up by communistic parents. Evidence of this Marxist upbringing is displayed several times throughout the book, like early on in the story when young Marji exclaims that â€Å"it was funny to see how much Marx and God looked like each other† (13). The audience can analyze Persepolis through a Marxist lens to

Why Mandarin Chinese is harder than you think

Mandarin Chinese is often described as a difficult language, sometimes one of the most difficult ones. This is not hard to understand. There are thousands of characters and strange tones! It must surely be impossible to learn for an adult foreigner! You can learn Mandarin ChineseThats nonsense of course. Naturally, if youre aiming for a very high level, it will take time, but I have met many learners  who have studied for just a few months  (albeit very diligently), and have been able to converse rather freely in Mandarin after that time. Continue such a project for a year and you will probably reach what most people would call fluent. If you want more encouragement and factors that make Chinese easy to learn, you should stop reading this article right away and check this one instead: Why Mandarin Chinese is easier than you think Chinese is actually quite hard Does that mean that all the talk about Chinese being difficult is just hot air? No, it doesnt. While the student in the article linked to above reached a decent conversational level in just 100 days (I spoke to him in person close to the end of his project), he has said himself that reaching the same level in Spanish took just a few weeks. Another way of looking at it is that Chinese isnt more difficult per step you have to take, its just that there are so many more steps than in any other language, especially compared to a language close to your own. Ive written more about this way of looking at difficult as having a vertical and a horizontal component here. But why? What makes it so hard? in this article, I will outline some of the main reasons why learning Chinese is significantly harder than learning any European language. Before we do that, though, we need to answer some basic questions: Difficult for whom? The first thing we must get straight is difficult for whom? Its meaningless to say how difficult such and such a language is to learn in comparison to other languages unless you specific who the learner is. The reason for this is not difficult to understand. Most of the time spent learning a new language is used to expand vocabulary, getting used to the grammar, mastering pronunciation and so on. If you study a language which is close to your own, this task will be much easier. For example, English shares a lot of vocabulary with other European languages, especially French. If you compare other languages that are even closer, such as Italian and Spanish or Swedish and German, the overlap is much bigger. My native language is Swedish and even though I have never studied German either formally or informally, I can still make sense of simple, written German and often understand parts of spoken German if slow and clear. This is without even having studied the language! Exactly how big an advantage this is doesnt become  clear for most people until they learn a language that has zero or almost zero overlap with your native language. Mandarin Chinese is a good example of this. There is almost no overlap with English vocabulary. This is okay at first, because common words in related language are sometimes also different, but it adds up. When you get to an advanced level and theres still no overlap between your own language and Mandarin, the sheer amount of words becomes an issue. Were talking about tens of thousands of words that all have to be learnt, not just changed a little bit from your native language. After all, its not hard for me to learn many advanced words in English: English Swedish Political conservatism Politisk konservatism Super nova Supernova Magnetic resonance Magnetisk resonans Epilepsy patient Epilepsipatient Alveolar affricate Alveolar affrikata Some of these are very logical in Chinese and in that sense, learning them in Chinese is actually easier if done from scratch compared with English or Swedish. However, that somewhat misses the point. I already know these words in Swedish, so learning them in English is really, really easy. Even if I only knew them in one language, I would automatically be able to understand them in the other. Sometimes I would even be able to say them. Guessing will sometimes do the trick! It will never do the trick in Chinese. So, for the purpose of this discussion, lets discuss how difficult Chinese is to learn for a native speaker of English, who may or may not have learnt one other language to some extent, such as French or Spanish. The situation will be almost the same for people in Europe who have learnt English apart from their native languages. What does learn Mandarin mean? Conversational fluency? Near-native mastery? We also need to discuss what we mean by learn Mandarin. Do we mean to a level where you can ask for directions, book train tickets and discuss everyday topics with native speakers in China? Do we include reading and writing, and if so, do we include handwriting? Or do we perhaps mean some kind of near-native educated level of competency, perhaps something similar to my level of English? In the other article, I discuss why learning Chinese is actually not that hard if you aim for a basic level in the spoken language. To really flip the coin here, I will lookt at more advanced proficiency and include the written language. Some of the points here are relevant for beginners and the spoken language too, of course: Characters and words -  Dont believe people who say you need only 2000 characters to become literate in Chinese, including some truly ridiculous claims that you can read most texts with less than that. With 2000 characters, you will not be able to read anything written for adult native speakers. Double the number and you come closer. Still, knowing characters is not enough, you need to know the words they make up and the grammar that governs the order in which they appear. Learning 4000 characters is not easy! In the beginning, you might think that learning characters is hard, but when youve learnt a few thousand, keeping them separate, knowing how to use them and remembering how to write theme becomes a real problem (including for native speakers I should say). Learning to write takes several times longer than learning to write a language like French.Speaking and writing -  As if learning thousands of characters isnt enough, you also need to know how to pronounce them, which is largely separate or just indirectly related to how they are written. If you can pronounce Spanish as a native speaker of English, you can sort of write it too, at least if you learn some spelling conventions. Not so in Chinese. Knowing how to say something tells you very little about how its written and vice versa. Its not true that Chinese is not phonetic at all, though, and you can make use of that, but it still makes learning much harder.Nothing for free -  I have already written about this above. If you havent learnt Chinese or any other language completely unrelated to your own, you dont know how much you have for free when your learn closely related languages. Its of course very hard to make estimates, but lets just say that there is a very big overlap between academic, medical an technical terms in European languages. You have to learn all that from scratch in Chinese.Language variation -  Chinese has several dialects and is spoken over a huge area by more than a billion people. Mandarin is the standard dialect, but there are many variations within that dialect, regional and otherwise. Its not uncommon to have several words for the same thing (look up the word Sunday for instance). We also have a very big difference between formal and colloquial vocabulary. Then we have classical Chinese, which is almost like a language within the language that often spills into modern written Chinese. Even if youre just focusing on modern Mandarin, all these other variations keep interfering and mixing things up for you.Pronunciation and tones -  While basic pronunciation is relatively easy to get down if you have the right teacher and spend the necessary time, tones are really hard to master for most learners. In isolation, yes; in words, yes; but in natural speech without thinking too much about it, no. Its really hard to feel  the difference between syllables said with the same initial and final but with another tone. Unless you are terribly talented, you wi ll probably keep making tone mistakes for the rest of your life. After a while, they wont really disturb communication that much, but it takes a while and most students never get there.Listening and reading -  In the article about why Chinese is easy to learn, I listed several things that make it easier to speak, such as no verb inflections, no gender, no tenses and so on. However, this information is still present when you communicate, its just not encoded in the written or spoken language. The words look and sound the same. This means that its easier to speak because you dont need to bother that much, but it makes listening and reading harder because you have less information and need to do much more interpreting yourself. This is a result of Chinese being an isolating language. Listening is further complicated by the fact that Mandarin has a very limited number of sounds, even including the tones, which makes it easy to mix things up and the number of homophones or near-homopho nes (words that sound the same or almost the same) is very large compared to English.Culture and mentality -  One of the major obstacles for reaching an educated native level in Chinese is the huge amount of culture you dont know about. If you study French, you share most of the cultural history and knowledge about the world with the native speakers, and even though you need to fill in the gaps that are particular to France, the general framework is the same. When most people start learning Chinese, they know almost nothing about the Chinese speaking world. Can you imagine how long it takes as an adult to learn everything about the world that you know now through years and years of schooling, living in the country, reading newspapers, books and so on? Added to this, the underlying thinking or mentality is sometimes very different. Humour doesnt always work the same way, what a Chinese person thinks is logical might not be logical to you, cultural values, norms and customs are diff erent. And so on. If you want to read more about differences in culture and mentality, I suggest a book called The Geography of Thought. Does it really matter how difficult it is? ​Now you might think that learning Chinese is really impossible, but as I said in the introduction, thats not really the case. However, as is the case with many other tasks, achieving mastery takes a long time. If you want to approach the level of an educated native speaker, were talking about a life-long commitment and a life situation that allows you to either work with the language or socialise in it. Ive studied Chinese for almost nine years and I daily come into contact with things I dont know. I expect this will never stop to be the case. Of course, I have learnt the language well enough to be able to listen, speak, read and write about almost anything I want, including specialised and technical areas Im familiar with. Almost all learners would have settled for much, much less. And rightly so, perhaps. You dont need to spend ten years or become an advanced learner for your studies to pay off. Even studying just a few months and being able to say a few things to people in China in their own language can make all the difference. Languages are not binary; they dont suddenly become useful at a certain level. Yes, they become gradually more useful the more you know, but exactly how far you want to go is up to you. Its also up to you to define what learning Mandarin means. Personally, I also think that the amount of things I dont know about the language makes learning more interesting and fun!