Here begins my new quest for learning Mandarin!
Yes, Chinese is not the easiest language in the world to learn... but it can be done! Chinese (Taishanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin) are all tonal languages with a logographic writing system. What does that mean? Before the English Romanization system came about, you either knew the word or you didn't. Not only that, you also had to say it right!
There are 4 tones in Chinese (sometimes there is a 5th neutral tone). Anyway, the most common example is the "ma" sound. Depending on how you say it, it could mean: mom (媽), hemp (麻), horse (馬), scold (罵), or a question particle (嗎).
So this is not the language where, "You say potato, I say "potato".
I grew up in a bilingual family where English was not my first or second language.It was actually my third. My grandparents are from Taishan 台山, from the Guangdong Province in China. So my first language was Taishanese, followed by Cantonese which my parents spoke. Then I went to preschool and began learning some English. I also remember watching Sesame Street on PBS.
I know I was delayed in speaking, but that was only because I was trying to process and understand 3 languages at an early age. However, this would not be an issue later on as my early exposure led to me be more aware of sounds that were similar yet different.
Once I began elementary school, my parents signed me up for Chinese school. It was on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning (later I switched to a different school that was only on Saturday mornings). It wasn't initially too bad. I started to dread it when I could no longer sleep in on Saturday mornings and had to miss my Saturday morning cartoons. I guess the only perk was stopping off at the donut to get ANY donut of my choice before going to Chinese school.
Believe it or not, I attended Chinese school up until my sophomore year in high school. I came to the realization that my learning had reached a plateau and that my reading was still heavily dependent on the pinyin method. AKA: the Zhuying or Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) system.
Even though Chinese school seemed like a drag, I'm thankful that I stuck with it. My dad also reminded me of the importance of knowing more than one language. I only wish (and most others would agree if they went to some sort Chinese school) that I studied harder.
But studying is only half the battle! For me, I think it was my lack of reinforcement at home, plus the fact that there are many similarities in Cantonese and Mandarin, but so MANY differences as well.
Ok, enough of that.
Onto my purpose for this blog. I am now a graduate student and wanting to obtain my Bilingual Authorization so that I can teach in Mandarin as well. After traveling 4 times to Asia in the last decade has also sparked a desire to get my Mandarin better than just the basic conversational level.
So basically this blog is to share my progress in Mandarin as I use the Rosetta Stone program, online resources (that I have found helpful and insightful), books I have bought and used, and a tutor. My main focus is to improve my reading comprehension.However speaking, writing, and listening is just as important! Time to boost my Chinese vocabulary! 我要學中文了!
Enjoy!
P.S. I'll probably post some things about Chinese culture as well...things like holidays, traditions, and food!
