你们好! 我们学习中文。每天我们去学校由脚。我们的类总共有5 个人。
Nĭmen hăo! Wŏmen xuéxí Hànyŭ. Mĕitiān wŏmen qù xuéxiào zòu lu. Wŏmen de kè yígòng yŏu wŭ ge rén.
Chris and I have been studying Chinese for just over two weeks now. It is amazing the number of words and phrases that I can now say and remember. On the street I can pick out bits of conversation instead of everything being "blahblahblahblahblah... blah blah." It is amazing.
Our school is called Miracle Mandarin and initially we signed up for a four week intensive "survival Chinese" class. Class is every weekday morning from 9-12 and the school is very close to our house. We have three classmates, Marko and Marina are from Germany and Natalie from France. Our teacher, Chén Zhóu is from Beijing and she is an excellent teacher. Taking classes has made me realize two things: 1) Now that I am teaching as well, I have a greater appreciation for teachers and she is one of the best - enthusiastic, helpful - leading the lesson so easily that we don't realize how much we are learning. 2) My English students are amazing! Taking any class for three hours is difficult, but I can't imagine doing this at the very end of my workday instead of the beginning.
Mastering another language is one of the best feelings in the world. I knew that I had mastered Spanish when I began dreaming in Spanish when I lived in Spain. It's funny - now that I'm learning Chinese, random Spanish words and sentences keep popping into my head. For example "I" is "wŏ" in Chinese and "yo" in Spanish. Today I was saying something and "yo" found it's way into the middle of my sentence. It is the same part of the brain, I'm sure. I'm not sure I'll be here long enough to master Chinese, but it is a good goal.
We have been concentrating on spoken Chinese and the pinyin. Simplified Chinese characters are the first entry at the beginning of the blog, pinyin is the roman alphabet translation that you see below. Today we started to learn basic strokes for characters. I'm excited to learn, but it is overwhelming as it is so different from English. Thus far we have had elementary lessons on our family, buying things, bargaining, going to different places, etc. All of us in the class have decided that we will enroll for a second month at the school. After that, Natalie is going back to France and Marina and Marko want to enroll in a university program, so I'm unsure what will happen. I know I want to continue to study, but the time and place are TBD.
I feel very lucky to have such a good group of classmates. Natalie is throwing a Christmas Eve party at her place next Monday night. Chris and I both have to work, but we're going to come for the end of the party and eat dessert and celebrate the holiday with our new friends. I'll make sure to take some pictures.
Q - Have you studied another language or do you speak another language? Any funny stories? How did you know when you finally understood what was going on?
I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday and hope to hear from you soon and in the new year.
圣诞快乐! Shèng dàn kuàilè!
Merry Christmas!
G
The characters and pinyin at the beginning of this entry read: "Hello! We are studying Chinese. Every day we go to school by foot. Our class in total has 5 people."
Nĭmen hăo! Wŏmen xuéxí Hànyŭ. Mĕitiān wŏmen qù xuéxiào zòu lu. Wŏmen de kè yígòng yŏu wŭ ge rén.
Chris and I have been studying Chinese for just over two weeks now. It is amazing the number of words and phrases that I can now say and remember. On the street I can pick out bits of conversation instead of everything being "blahblahblahblahblah... blah blah." It is amazing.
Our school is called Miracle Mandarin and initially we signed up for a four week intensive "survival Chinese" class. Class is every weekday morning from 9-12 and the school is very close to our house. We have three classmates, Marko and Marina are from Germany and Natalie from France. Our teacher, Chén Zhóu is from Beijing and she is an excellent teacher. Taking classes has made me realize two things: 1) Now that I am teaching as well, I have a greater appreciation for teachers and she is one of the best - enthusiastic, helpful - leading the lesson so easily that we don't realize how much we are learning. 2) My English students are amazing! Taking any class for three hours is difficult, but I can't imagine doing this at the very end of my workday instead of the beginning.
Mastering another language is one of the best feelings in the world. I knew that I had mastered Spanish when I began dreaming in Spanish when I lived in Spain. It's funny - now that I'm learning Chinese, random Spanish words and sentences keep popping into my head. For example "I" is "wŏ" in Chinese and "yo" in Spanish. Today I was saying something and "yo" found it's way into the middle of my sentence. It is the same part of the brain, I'm sure. I'm not sure I'll be here long enough to master Chinese, but it is a good goal.
We have been concentrating on spoken Chinese and the pinyin. Simplified Chinese characters are the first entry at the beginning of the blog, pinyin is the roman alphabet translation that you see below. Today we started to learn basic strokes for characters. I'm excited to learn, but it is overwhelming as it is so different from English. Thus far we have had elementary lessons on our family, buying things, bargaining, going to different places, etc. All of us in the class have decided that we will enroll for a second month at the school. After that, Natalie is going back to France and Marina and Marko want to enroll in a university program, so I'm unsure what will happen. I know I want to continue to study, but the time and place are TBD.
I feel very lucky to have such a good group of classmates. Natalie is throwing a Christmas Eve party at her place next Monday night. Chris and I both have to work, but we're going to come for the end of the party and eat dessert and celebrate the holiday with our new friends. I'll make sure to take some pictures.
Q - Have you studied another language or do you speak another language? Any funny stories? How did you know when you finally understood what was going on?
I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday and hope to hear from you soon and in the new year.
圣诞快乐! Shèng dàn kuàilè!
Merry Christmas!
G
The characters and pinyin at the beginning of this entry read: "Hello! We are studying Chinese. Every day we go to school by foot. Our class in total has 5 people."
5 comments:
And in Hawaiian:
Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
There you go. Now you know four languages!
Theoretically I speak a little Spanish but when I went to Ibiza, all the waiters laughed at me when I tried to speak to them.
Greta, does a South Philly accent count as another language....LOL
I believe some of the people in Chicago think it is!!
Eleanor (Chris's Mom)
Namaste Greta!
Michigan misses you, but don't worry we are all eating enough sweets to cover your absence :) As far as your language question, I've been trying to brush up some of my Spanish grammar before Honduras and quickly realizing I am one of the biggest gringas around. We'll see how January goes. More than likely it will be run on a lot of smiles and pointing.
Much love,
Anne
Yes, Over the years I have learned the language of "kurt". (You would have to know Greta's Uncle Kurt to know what I am talking about). It is very fast, never a sentence finished, and with that you have to figure out what he is talking about?
No, I do not know how to speak another language (other than teen-ager). I wish I did.
We wish you a Merry, Merry Greta & a Happy 2008!!!!!
Much love,
KTL
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