Are you fluent in Mandarin?

This last week has been crazy for a lot of reasons - coordinating with some colleagues in the US has led to early mornings and late nights. I've also been called in to help manage a regional client, so getting up to speed has taken quite a bit of time. In the middle of all of this I had a client ask me straight out in an email, "Are you fluent in Mandarin?"

Although I have had friends ask the question, it's normally not direct like that and it took me aback. The first thought that flew through my mind was, "No way!" Then, though I took a step back and after a while composed the answer below:

“As far as my Mandarin, no, I'm not fluent. My listening skills are pretty good as I hear Chinese everyday, I can carry on a conversation, attend a meeting in Chinese and understand most of what is going on (60-80% normally depending on the topic and the speaker) although I normally use English when I need to clarify my points to make sure I am as clear as possible. I am still studying and continue to work on improving my overall communication skill in Mandarin.”

Initially I was embarrassed as I wrote the above, the perfectionist in me still has problems admitting shortcomings. Now, I'm not embarrassed at all. A year and a half ago I didn't speak any Chinese. Instead of looking at my faults, I'm going to focus on how far I've come.

Question - Any thing that you've done the same with? To looking forward...

Annual Dinner

At the end of November my assistant asked me if I'd be willing to participate in my department's program for the annual dinner. She said that we'd be singing. I said yes, not really understanding (like a lot of things) what I was getting into. She neglected to mention that I would be kicking it off acapella. We wound up singing a song "Mercer Welcomes You" that we adapted from "Beijing Welcomes You," one of the songs that was very popular here due to the Olympics. It was an experience and now every single person in the office knows exactly who I am. I did get a round of applause though.

I hope you enjoy the attached video from the beginning of January. The actual song is quite a bit longer, but thought this gives you a feel for the event. One of my coworkers recorded it and it's not professional, but quite amusing.

Can you tell what languages my coworkers are singing in at the beginning?

Bored?

(Initially written on January 26th)

When I was arranging my trip to Hawaii the flights were complicated. I have a series of meetings in Singapore after Chinese New Year, so my flights turned out to be Shanghai -> Tokyo -> Honolulu -> Manila -> Singapore -> Shanghai. I'm flying on three different airlines and as I'm discovering now, have a couple of nasty layovers. Right now I'm stuck in the Tokyo, Narita airport. I've already waited two hours and have two more to go and I am extremely bored.

I can't remember the last time where I've had the opportunity to be bored. In the exhausting day-to-day world in Shanghai, I typically fall asleep whenever I sit down and I'm not eating or working. One of my friend jokes that every time I see him I start yawning. I did sleep on the flight from Shanghai to Tokyo and probably will fall asleep on the plane to Honolulu as well, but for now I'm up and restless. I have books to read and my ipod, but can't seem to focus on anything. I did some stretches in a corner, bought some weird dried fruit and water at the duty free store, explored the terminal and still have two hours!

When's the last time you were bored? Can you remember it? What did you do?

Happy Chinese New Year to all! Happy 牛 year! 新年快乐！