This post is in response to THE WEEEKEND'S Weekend-Engagement post. The topic is:
Tell us what your hobby is, why you enjoy it, how you do it and what you need to make it happen, what's involved, how it makes you feel when engaging with it or anything else you'd like to share about it.
Imagine moving to a country with a billion people and not being able to communicate. When I first moved to China I felt like a new born baby, unable to communicate my basic needs and wants. The inability to communicate created anxiety and feelings of anger. To diagnose my symptoms as culture shock would have been an understatement. I quickly learned that in order to survive in this new environment I would have to adapt, that meant learning mandarin. My girlfriend, now wife, and I found a tutor and started taking lessons twice a week. At first, I only wanted to learn mandarin so I could tell a taxi driver where I was going without Google Maps, but overtime I started to appreciate the language and the challenge it presented. I no longer live in China, but ever since living there learning mandarin has become my hobby.
How Do I Practice?
Private Tutor: My wife and I meet with a private Chinese tutor twice a week. She focuses mainly on correcting our tone pronunciation and grammar.
Walking:The experts say that aquiring a new language comes from listening and immitating native speakers. So Monday to Friday I wake up at 4:00 am to listen to a Pimsleur Chinese 's 25 minute audio lesson. These lessons let you learn by speaking and imitating native speakers with audio recordings. I pop the recording on and spend the next 25 minutes walking and talking.
What do I need?
Interactions with Native Speakers: Since I no longer live in China I have to get creative to get exposure to native speakers.
- I've played live mobi-games like 王者榮耀 to interact with Native Speakers. I'm still terrible at the game.
- I've gone to online Facebook groups to find speaking partners. They also want to practice their English so it's always difficult to balance the two languages in conversations.
Pleco: This is an amazing application that helps English speakers understand the Chinese Language.
A Library Card: My public library offers a variety of text and audio Resources for language learning. It's always been a great way to have access to new materials.
How does it make me feel?
- I can sum up how I feel about learning Chinese in 3 words: challenged, humbled, and frustrated. The challenge of learning the language as always bought me back wanting more.
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