Lived in Taiwan 3 years - picked up Advanced spoken proficiency and intermediate reading &#x2F; writing in Traditional Mandarin. Studied Simplified Mandarin @ Brigham Young University. While studying we became conversant in modern Mandarin and also Ancient text including The Dao De Jing, Mencius, Confucius etc.<p>There is a beauty and depth to the language not available in the romance languages or German: may I recommend www.zhongwen.com as an introduction.<p>With modern keyboard input methods producing Chinese text is not a difficult task although learning the writing system is not for the faint of heart. Not just due to the characters but also the syntax of the language. English generally is a head-first language where as Chinese is a head-last language. Combine this with careful character placement within the syntax and you have a minefield awaiting the non-native writer.<p>What English lacks in concentrated depth and beauty it makes up for in flexibility and diversity.