A Strategy of Learning Two Languages-The Comparison of the Differences and Similarities in Basic Sentence Structure between Chinese and English

Abstract

For a language beginner there are many methods of attaining the goal of learning a second or foreign language, one of the most useful ones of which is to make a comparison in sentence structure between one's own native tongue and a second or foreign language. A learner will find out that there are some differences and similarities between the two languages by means of comparison, through which he/she will feel learning a foreign language is not so difficult as he/she imagines and give birth to a strong desire to learn a foreign language. For a Chinese speaker who is learning English as a foreign language, she/he may make great strides in English through the comparison of sentence structure between the two languages. On the other hand, this way can help the English speakers not only better understand but feel more at ease in Chinese learning as well. The overall purpose of this study is to seek to compare Chinese to English in basic sentence structure, including inflections, problems in subject-verb agreement, etc., to guide both the English beginners to take interest in English and the English speakers feel an interest in Chinese, and to facilitate successfully acquiring their aim of learning a second or foreign language.