I'm getting somewhere
I saw a bull-fight on Chinese television yesterday. I had never seen it before, but any person who loves animals would be outraged. The bull had to be stabbed several times before it was killed. It looked horrible. I could not understand at all what the crowd enjoyed about it. Maybe I do not want to understand either.
This past week was review week and there were no classes. Final tests start Monday. I have one test a day over the whole week. Afterwards I have several weeks of vacation from school.
I get to celebrate New Years twice this year! Once for ringing in 2006 on the western calendar and once for ringing in the Year of the Dog on the Chinese calendar on January 28th. I not only have time off from school, but I get a vacation from work too! I am scrambling to make some plans to go on a short trip during that time. Many people have told me the city of Qingdao by the ocean is a nice place to go. It is not to far by train, maybe a few hours. I would love to stand on the beach by the Pacific Ocean and imagine that on the other side is California.
Recently, for the first time I have been in China, I feel like am really communicating with people in Chinese. Maybe that is because the conversations become more than just simple sentences and ideas. I understand more of what is being said. I have heard compliments regarding my pronunciation, when I might have gotten a pained look of confusion and lack of understanding before.
That is one reason I really want to at least finish this coming semester at Renmin. I feel like I am actually getting somewhere and I do not want to stop or turn away from that now. I am often reminded of the times before when I studied Japanese. Those memories are like roadmarkers now of where my Chinese ability should be and if I am making progress. I feel like the first two and a half years of Chinese study at ASU gave me a decent foundation for reading and writing. But I was not prepared, and I have myself to blame as well, for not being able to speak or listen to Chinese when I got here. Its funny how I could not even clearly determine what sound someone making, let alone what the meaning was during the first few months. I was in a taxi the other day and actually understood what the driver was saying when months ago it would just sound like mindless jibberish to me. It has much to do with a combination of knowing more vocabulary and grammar. But I feel it also has something to do with tuning your antenna to the Chinese frequency. It is like adjusting the knob on your radio to pick it up clearly. But what makes it harder than finding a radio station is that you are not sure what frequency you are trying to find. How can you know what sounds to look for or produce when who do not know what is right.
After being here for six months I feel like I can finally say I have a decent idea of how to produce the sounds that make up the Chinese language.
This past week was review week and there were no classes. Final tests start Monday. I have one test a day over the whole week. Afterwards I have several weeks of vacation from school.
I get to celebrate New Years twice this year! Once for ringing in 2006 on the western calendar and once for ringing in the Year of the Dog on the Chinese calendar on January 28th. I not only have time off from school, but I get a vacation from work too! I am scrambling to make some plans to go on a short trip during that time. Many people have told me the city of Qingdao by the ocean is a nice place to go. It is not to far by train, maybe a few hours. I would love to stand on the beach by the Pacific Ocean and imagine that on the other side is California.
Recently, for the first time I have been in China, I feel like am really communicating with people in Chinese. Maybe that is because the conversations become more than just simple sentences and ideas. I understand more of what is being said. I have heard compliments regarding my pronunciation, when I might have gotten a pained look of confusion and lack of understanding before.
That is one reason I really want to at least finish this coming semester at Renmin. I feel like I am actually getting somewhere and I do not want to stop or turn away from that now. I am often reminded of the times before when I studied Japanese. Those memories are like roadmarkers now of where my Chinese ability should be and if I am making progress. I feel like the first two and a half years of Chinese study at ASU gave me a decent foundation for reading and writing. But I was not prepared, and I have myself to blame as well, for not being able to speak or listen to Chinese when I got here. Its funny how I could not even clearly determine what sound someone making, let alone what the meaning was during the first few months. I was in a taxi the other day and actually understood what the driver was saying when months ago it would just sound like mindless jibberish to me. It has much to do with a combination of knowing more vocabulary and grammar. But I feel it also has something to do with tuning your antenna to the Chinese frequency. It is like adjusting the knob on your radio to pick it up clearly. But what makes it harder than finding a radio station is that you are not sure what frequency you are trying to find. How can you know what sounds to look for or produce when who do not know what is right.
After being here for six months I feel like I can finally say I have a decent idea of how to produce the sounds that make up the Chinese language.
posted by Mark at
10:26 AM
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