Learning Mandarin when dyspraxic. ?? Hard

[yotty]

DS has to choose a second modern language going into year 9. He currently is good at Latin and not bad a French, but is not a natural linguist, although is keen and hard working.
He has to choose between German, Spanish, Russian or mandarin. He wants to do Russian or mandarin because it's a bit alternative and regards it as an opportunity. However, I'm worried that he will struggle with the mandarin and Russian characters. He's mildly dyspraxic, not good a drawing. Doesn't pick up on the spacial aspects when copying. Will this make learning these languages hard?
Don't want to dampen his enthusiasm, but don't want him to make the wrong choice and then find he struggles

I don't know but have you checked whether they actually learn characters at GCSE? I had a feeling it was all in pinyin (transliterated) but I may very well be wrong.

Russian is a different alphabet, and once learned should be no harder than the English alphabet.

Chinese has a huge number of characters which must be learned by 'look and say'.

Basically, how is he on rote learning? Was he taught to read English by "look and say" - if so did he take to that method?

He's a good rote learner, which I think is why he is good at Latin. The bit that worries me is his ability to write the characters

The Russian alphabet shouldn't prove too difficult - many of the characters are the same or similar to those of the Roman alphabet. However, the chinese characters are different and numerous, so might require greater drawing ability.

How long have you got before he has to choose? Why does n't he try drawing some Mandarin characters and the Russian alphabet and then you and he can make an assessment of how legible /easy he finds it.
I have a DC who learns Mandarin and really likes it but as well as the rote learning I would find it a real challenge to reproduce the numerous neat Mandarin characters that fill my DC's notebook.

Why don't you email the Don at Win Coll who teaches Mandarin and ask him what he thinks, I believe there's only one. They do have to learn the characters it's not pinyin. I'm sure the admissions office would give you his email. Mandarin is only done to a IGCSE, Russian to Pre U this might influence you decision.

Thanks for advice guys. Good idea to have a go at drawing a few characters and I will talk to someone at WinColl before we make a decision.

I haven't ever been diagnosed but I'm 100% sure that I'm dyspraxic, I have all the symptoms and them some! I can't draw for toffee! However, I was always good at languages. :)

I learned Russian at school. It's very easy to learn the Russian alphabet, and no more difficult to write it than it is to write in English. I didn't have any problem with it at all. The grammar can be quite challenging, but as he's good at Latin, he should be able to cope with this.

I haven't had an opportunity to learn Mandarin, but I am fluent in Japanese, which uses many Chinese characters in addition to its own phonetic alphabets. It is very challenging to learn the characters, whether dyspraxic or not, but I don't think you need good coordination or drawing ability to get them right - it's more about learning the right stroke order, as that seems to make a huge difference.

I think he should go with what interests him the most!