To read the rest of the Taking on Taiwan series, click here.
Ah, Mandarin Chinese. I’m sure many of you know that it is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn, for speakers of alphabet based languages, that is. Here in Taiwan, Traditional Mandarin Chinese is spoken. It is nearly the same as Simplified Chinese when you hear it spoken, but taking a look at the characters, you notice the difference. Traditional Mandarin Chinese has more strokes and more complexity to it. Taiwan has kept the traditional writing alive despite China’s transition to a simple version of the original language.
Before even setting foot in Taiwan again, I did my best to learn the basics. I listened to podcasts as I watered plants during the summer in Chicago, but that only did so much. And I was listening to a Beijing speaker, who had a different accent than the Taiwanese speakers have. Not that I noticed the difference until I came to Taiwan and spent a couple of months here, though. Being able to compare and contrast Chinese accents and speakers wasn’t something I could even do until I started learning the language for myself, a little over a year ago.
Mandarin, honestly, was a beautiful and confusing language to me. I grew up learning French for eight years, so Latin and Germanic languages were easiest for me to attempt to decipher. Chinese is entirely different. A complete opposite to other languages I had dabbled in before. I knew it would be an uphill battle, so I took it on anyways. I already spoke French and English, what could it hurt to learn a character based language?
With the help of a friend of mine, I connected with a tutor who agreed to meet with me twice a week. We made our way slowly through Practical Audio Visual Chinese, which is one of the more popular books for Traditional Chinese learning. I did a series of reading, some writing (mostly for memorization), and speaking. We met for about six months, and then our sessions stopped. But in that time, I made it through about two and a half books, which is half of the textbook series. I was pretty proud of myself.
Today, despite not studying independently after meeting with her, I recognized about a third of what I hear. I can read some signs, and if I am lost, I am confident enough to ask for help and know what someone is telling me. At times, my roommate and I will have Chinglish conversations: one of us will start speaking in Chinese and insert English for words we know I don’t know. It works and honestly, I think Chinese will stick with me for a long time. But in learning Chinese, I realized a few things about language learning and how it’s important when you live abroad.
- Learning languages, especially ones vastly different from your native language, is like waiting for that Helen Keller moment. You just have to wait until that moment when the word your teacher is saying and the meaning click together, like when Helen Keller finally looked at Anne Sullivan and realized the liquid in her hands was in fact the signing happening in her hand. It doesn’t matter how long it takes either. Once you have that, it’s less of a battle and more of a pleasant journey into language learning.
- The more you know, the more accessible your world becomes. Language is the key to understanding. If you know even the smallest bit, the world becomes a whole lot easier. Especially in a country like Taiwan where knowing some Chinese allows you to discover some hidden gems you wouldn’t have found only knowing English. It’s entirely possible to get around only knowing English, but knowing some Chinese is helpful.
- Practice makes perfect, and you can practice everywhere. Honestly, why not learn Chinese?! You have everywhere to practice if you live in a Chinese speaking country. It makes it so easy, almost too easy, to practice and learn a new language. Plus, when you return home, everyone will be impressed. But I was the most impressed with myself, honestly, because I never thought I’d be able to pull off learning what I did, even the smallest fraction.
Language learning is one of my favorite parts of going to different countries, and I am curious to hear what you guys think. Why do you think it’s important to learn languages? Have you ever learned Chinese or another language? What was the hardest part? Share your thoughts with me below!
