My Chinese stinks.
Yeah, that’s right – I know you’ve read about it before, and I’ve said every time that I should really stop making excuses and get off my butt and work harder at learning this language, but the reality is that I haven’t yet.
And I don’t really want this post to garner a lot of comments about how I should study and take a course, find a language exchange, blah blah blah. I already know that I should speak more Chinese with my husband instead of being lazy and relying on English. Trust me, I already know all of it.
But the fact remains that I haven’t done it yet.
Why, you ask? Lots of reasons (ahem, excuses, I know). Aside from it being difficult and requiring effort, I kind of like being able to not understand all the noise around me. It makes it far easier to tune out the constant barrage of conversations, radio talk and songs, hawker shouts, neighbours arguments in the middle of the night, screams into cell phones, tantrums thrown by children, and curious locals who talk about me every time I walk by. I’m perfectly happy to go about my business in a bit of a bubble of ignorance – for someone who finds it hard to turn her brain off and stop worrying and thinking about things, not understanding everything around me has helped immensely.
See all those lookie-loo’s while we were taking our wedding photos? Yeah, I’m OK with not understanding everything they say.
And let’s face it, wouldn’t everyone like the excuse of not being able to talk to their mother-in-law because of the language barrier?! (Oh, relax, I’m [half] kidding – she’s a lovely lady who knits me things and feeds me far too much delicious food when I visit. We’re good!)
All that being said, I am not a completely lost cause here in the Middle Kingdom. I don’t just walk around grunting and gesturing and pointing until I get what I want.
I do have a grasp of the basics; the most common things I need to say and understand to get by day to day (I also have a large-ish store of words that are really of no use to me whatsoever in normal everyday adult conversation, thanks to teaching young students – things like “rainbow” and “It’s a pencil”). I understand more and more everyday; maybe not every word of a sentence, but some, and sometimes even enough to put together the meaning of what is being said. I’m even told that my pronunciation is pretty good (but I’ll be the first to admit my tones are terrible).
What do you mean you can’t understand my awful Mandarin?
And my taxi Chinese? It’s pretty awesome, if I do say so myself (and I have the support of nearly every taxi driver who has driven me somewhere to back me up)!
You see, I can say several things really well, and most of those happen to be important things I say often, such as where I live, places I want to go, whether the driver should turn right or left, and when to stop. And since those are the extent of the conversation most taxi drivers have with me, they think my Mandarin is great.
I can even go a step further and carry on some basic small talk with them if they decide to get curious and chatty. I am quite familiar with the usual questions – where am I from (Canada), how long have I been in China (three years), what do I do (teacher), how old am I (it’s a secret), where do I work, etc. Which again, leads to these drivers thinking that my Chinese is really pretty darned good (even if I do play dumb and pretend to not understand when they ask how much my monthly salary is). And which, by the way, I always rebuff in typical Chinese fashion with, “No, just so-so” (see? I’m being honest and Chinese!).
The penguins understand me.
But one recent driver would not let me off the hook so easily.
After establishing where I wanted to go, running through the typical small talk, and complimenting me on my excellent Chinese, he kept on. About what, I don’t know, since I didn’t understand (obviously) and I freely admitted it. He repeated a few things for me, but when it became obvious that I wasn’t lying about the fact that I didn’t understand, he was shocked. He rescinded his compliment about my Chinese skills and wondered aloud why it wasn’t better, since I had lived here for so long.
Unfortunately, until I make a few million and get myself one of these, I’m stuck taking taxis.
That’s when I made the mistake of admitting that I am lazy and don’t study.
For the remainder of the ride, I was lectured (in a light-hearted way, mind you) about studying and speaking loudly, confidently, and often in order to practice the language. He gave examples for me, practicing his English by saying the word “America” over and over to demonstrate how loudly and clearly I should speak. Despite my protests that for every word he knew in English (“America”, “no”, “thank you”), I knew the corresponding Chinese translation, it wasn’t good enough for him. I received a full-on motivational language learning speech, all while weaving in and out of rush hour traffic.
And when we had arrived at my destination, even though I had paid the fare, he wouldn’t let me out before I promised to work harder and that my Chinese would be better the next time I rode in his cab.
Even though I know he’s right, a part of me kind of hopes I don’t run into him again anytime soon – he might give me detention if I haven’t done my homework!
I’m really embarrassed at how little Chinese I’ve managed to learn in the year and a half I’ve been here. I have a million reasons (err, excuses) why I haven’t learned: too busy working, I’m not a good aural learner so the tones are lost on me, a lot of people speak English here, I wasn’t sure how long I was going to stay so why put the energy into it if I’m just going to leave in a few months, etc, etc.
But, the truth is that I’ve been lazy. And, man, I do love my bubble of ignorance! I will certainly miss it when I move back to the States next month. No longer can I pretend those security guards aren’t talking to me when they’re telling me not to do whatever it is that I’m doing that I’m not supposed to do. I’ll have to actually answer everyone’s nosy questions or hear their conversations about bodily functions that I just don’t want to hear. Uggh. Maybe I can just pretend I don’t speak English?
My list of excuses is short and lame, yet I continue to stick with them. What’s wrong with me?!
My bubble of innocence is pretty great too – sometimes, when people (and by ‘people’ I mean obnoxious 20-year-old guys who are showing off to their friends) shout “Hello!” at me here, I even pretend that I’m not an English-speaking foreigner.
Living in China twice, for a year each time, I know appallingly little Chinese as well. After mastering the necessary few phrases – some “taxi” conversation, how to find the bathroom, how to say “you’re cheating me,” and other essentials – my motivation seriously drops. You’re right: many people speak English, and the bubble of ignorance is nice. So I say embrace it!
Actually, where I live, few people speak English. I need to get over the excuses and work hard to learn the language of the place I am now calling home.
I think this is my newest favorite post of yours lol. I can imagine myself being the same way, at least until I start at university (long-term Chinese program to get my level up, then bachelors in Chinese, then Chinese bachelors in History).
I wish I had an ignorance bubble for English and Spanish!
Do they speak good mandarin in Hebei, or when you get your Chinese working are you going to have to learn a dialect as well?
<3
I wish you good luck in your studies – it sounds very ambitious!
Mandarin is spoken here. There is a local dialect, and some accent stuff, but it’s fairly standard Mandarin most of the time.
Ahh, you’re lucky, I’m going to Suzhou and 苏州话 and 上海话 is spoken more by locals than standard Mandarin there.
Thanks! I want to be a straight History major, but I feel like my Chinese sucks badly so I need all the Chinese I can get haha, I need a level 6 HSK to do the History program. Plus the extra electives will be good for learning Chinese culture. The best part is that it costs about the same amount as my community college here in the States. I will never be able to go to university if I stay here.
Good point – I am lucky I don’t have to learn a dialect as well. Now if only that would translate into some motivation to learn on my part. I will get better, I will get better, I will get better…!
Again, good luck with your studies – sounds interesting!
Haha I think we all have that so I’m not really any help. I do do the Hello-Hello lessons and http://www.memrise.com makes it kind of fun for me, but these really just help with reading, but maybe that would help you with speaking since you’re around Chinese all the time!
I just really need to stop being so lazy and put effort into it – that’s what it really comes down to. I have a fluent Chinese speaker at my disposal (my husband), but I am just lazy and speak English with him. Need to smarten up!
For what it’s worth, I think it’s laudable that you, at least, recognise the need to learn Chinese. You’d be surprised how many expats not only fail to learn the language but also expect the Chinese people to speak English when speaking to them.
Thanks – I can’t get over those people who think folks in China should speak English to them either. I mean, duh!!
Hilarious! You should give the taxi fler a punch on the nose and tell him to, er, mind his language! But seriously speaking, there is no harm done to learn another language. In fact, the more languages you can master, the better. After all, you will be the one who will enjoy the benefits of being multi-lingual. Wouldn’t that be cool? And when you have someone who is always there for you to practise your Mandarin, is’t it such a waste? But like you said, maybe there is no urgent need for you learn Mandarin and that may be why you feel lazy about learning the language. But you don’t want excuses yourself, like you said. You can do it! So, go for it ma’am! 加油!
He was pretty funny about it – stern but funny. And I recognize that I should be learning it, I just haven’t worked up the motivation to do it yet. I will, I promise!