I was on holiday in Manila for two weeks last month. And since coming back, I have to admit I haven’t been as motivated to go back to studying.
Before the holiday, I was already yue lai yue lan (getting more and more lazy) and really hoped a break would motivate me to study harder again like I did in the first semester, when everything was novel and exciting and oh so cool!
It didn’t happen. Continue reading “Getting Back on the Horse”
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of being in an intermediate level class is the number of new words (words, not characters) that we learn everyday. While not all of them are useful, most are. Some even come as phrases or expressions that would be good to know in real life, such as 要不然 (yao bu ran = “or else”) and 各种各样 (ge zhong, ge yang – “all kinds of things”). My classmates and I have estimated that we are given anywhere from 25 to 50 new words to learn EVERYDAY.
Memorizing them alone is overwhelming enough. But to be expected to use them correctly too? It’s tough, but as everyone knows, the most important thing about learning a language is practice and repetition. Continue reading “Finding Focus”
One thing I learned that helps keep me going when I started learning Mandarin here in Beijing is that it’s the little “accomplishments” that give me a daily dose of joy.
Today, it was calling my favorite kao ya（Peking duck) restaurant near Chaoyang Park and making reservations for Chinese New Year dinner with my friends tonight.
The first thing I had to do was look up the word “reserve” (yu ding) in my handy English-Chinese dictionary. And the word for “table” (zhuo zi). After that, it was a matter of taking a deep breath and summoning the confidence to place a phone call to the non-English speaking maitre d’ of the restaurant. Here goes nothing. Continue reading “Loving the Little Doses”
Ting Claravall Works 