No Hablo
The hardest thing about China so far, as expected, has been my inability to communicate. Chinese is a very difficult language to learn … and although I’m now getting 3 hours of Mandarin class every day, I’ve had terribly little progress. Part of that is because I’m just having trouble learning in the style that they’re teaching, part of it is because we don’t have much time to practice, and most of it is because it’s just plain hard. In one sense, it’ll be nice to be done with training and have more time to focus on the language … and in another sense, it’ll be even harder to learn it while I’m alone in my city, Loudi. I guess I’ll just keep playing it by ear!
August 15th, 2006 at 12:36 am EST
your city’s name sounds too much like your car’s name! (i beat you to this post angie!)
August 15th, 2006 at 12:43 am EST
the only thing i remember is “Ni Hao” for “hi”, and something like “ping” to state i wanted my drink cold or with ice (never quite did catch on to the warm/hot water to drink thing, but i do miss the hot towels rolled up to wash my face with). Oh, and when i liked a meal or drink, i said something like “mulala, ha hur” or “ha chu” and then they would get me more of that good thing and less of the yucky raw fishees. oh, and i think “booka chee” was either thank you or your welcome.
August 15th, 2006 at 1:43 am EST
foiled again! but i’m still posting at a wee-er hour…
i can’t even imagine trying to learn mandarin… when its spoken it just sounds hard. you’ll get it tho. you’re so gonna own that language.
August 15th, 2006 at 10:48 am EST
found my list from when i got back from china. i know my spelling is way off…. but anyhow….
Mu-la-la-la-la-haaa = very very good food. i like much
haa hoor = good drink
eh-dey-r = just a little bit
Si bah leh = I’m full
Tsen Tsen = goodbye
Shee Shee = thank you
Booka chee = your welcome
Wall eye knee = i love you
show shey = lady
wey = hi (informal, like when you answer the telephone)
ni hao = hello, how are you
ping = cold (ice)
August 15th, 2006 at 4:42 pm EST
so you can’t memorize vocabulary 2 minutes before you need to know it?
August 15th, 2006 at 11:54 pm EST
Austin, I think of those days in Spanish class often and desperately wish that Chinese was as easy to learn as Espanol was for us back in the day. Perhaps if my double cuz was here with me I’d be fine.
HP, thanks for the list. It’s actually hilarious to read your transcriptions of these phrases. Really funny. And it’s interesting to hear about your experiences here, now that I’m more acclimated. You definitely were “high rolling”, bro.
August 16th, 2006 at 7:51 am EST
its also intereting to see that half of the phrases i needed in my 2 weeks revolved around trying to get decent food and not have to eat the un-edible. the other thing i learned as i traveled China was that if i learned a phrase in one city, it didn’t necessarily get pronounced the same in the next. there were dialects and different accents in different regions to add to my confusion. much like in the States you get southern accents, Boston accents, WV drawls, etc.
and what do you mean by “high rolling”?
August 17th, 2006 at 9:30 am EST
Dude,
I am so glad you are keeping your blog up while you are in China. I am enjoying hearing about your experiences and especially your struggles with the language. I hope it clicks for you soon.
-Ben
August 18th, 2006 at 4:33 am EST
Thanks, Ben. I’m glad you’re online again too!
August 18th, 2006 at 10:58 am EST
double cousin…haven’t heard or used that in awhile…made me laugh…well, if you shoot over a list of vocab, i will gladly spout out the first thing that comes to my head for each one.
and trust me, i would love to visit you