Some newborn babies seem to understand the language of their parents within only a week or two. Many babies have learned so much language that they can actually follow conversations by the time that they are one year old.
How long does it take to learn Chinese? How many characters are in the Chinese language?
How many Chinese characters do Chinese people know and use in their language?
The point is, education is everything. No wonder that, even though there are more and greater 'spikes' of high intelligence in Westerners, average Chinese people are way more intelligent than average Westerners. The Chinese have to learn way more difficult operations of language just to live than do Westerners. It's exercise. And practiced education exercise is the way to strengthen the brain.
How long does it take to learn Chinese? How many characters are in the Chinese language?
The number of unique Chinese characters used through the ages, though the exact figure is unknown, is safely in excess of 100,000. The largest number ever recorded in a Chinese dictionary—the Taiwan Ministry of Education's 2004 Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (異體字字典, Yìtǐzì zìdiǎn)—was 106,230. Only a subset of these characters are still in regular use today.
How many Chinese characters do Chinese people know and use in their language?
No one knows all the Chinese words though. Think about it, do you know all the words in an English dictionary? Probably not. A Chinese person of average education should know about 3,500 characters. A literate Chinese person may know 6,000 to 7,000 characters.
The point is, education is everything. No wonder that, even though there are more and greater 'spikes' of high intelligence in Westerners, average Chinese people are way more intelligent than average Westerners. The Chinese have to learn way more difficult operations of language just to live than do Westerners. It's exercise. And practiced education exercise is the way to strengthen the brain.