Part of the ielts speaking Test Yourself 13 Reading Your Family 14

6. Do many foreigners speak your native language?
No, definitely not！Some learn, but very few actually speak it fluently. I think learning
Mandarin can be tough, especially the pronunciation and the writing. But more and more
foreigners are learning, and I guess that’s great for China and Chinese culture.
7. Do you think that your native language is easier than English?
You mean from a foreigner’s point of view? I think it depends on where you come from.
It must be easier for a European person to learn English because languages like German,
French, and Spanish all share similarities with English. For example, in German, people
say “Guten Morgen”. It sounds very similar to the English “good morning”．So it must be
simpler for them to learn English. On the other hand, it might be easier for someone from
Japan to learn Chinese, because the two languages have the same roots, especially when it
comes to writing. We share a lot of characters when we write. I believe foreigners find it
very difficult to write Chinese, because our characters look like little drawings to them. It’s
completely different from their language. In addition, in Chinese we have four tones, and
foreigners often get them mixed up. It’s usually funny..

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1. Do you often celebrate festivals in your country?
Yes, definitely！We celebrate a lot of national festivals in my country. I am sure you
know about the Spring Festival．it’s the most important one．We always celebrate the
Chinese New Year with our relatives, and we have a lot of traditions for the beginning of
each year. In addition, we also get together with our family for Labor Day, as the well
as Mid-Autumn Festival when we rejoice at the harvests in the countryside, and the Dragon Boat
Festival is also very meaningful in our culture. We commemorate the death of a famous Chinese
poet on that day. These are the most popular but there are many others all year round.