365 Days of Chinese | 365天学中文 (365 Tiān Xué Zhōngwén)
Zài Zhōngguó (在中国), or “In China,” details my almost three-week trip to China in 2024, and uses that trip as a springboard to explore a wide range of topics – travel, culture, history, the arts. Most importantly, I hope this blog will serve as an opportunity to celebrate our global humanity. The blog reflects my own thoughts and recollections. Please forgive any errors or omissions. Respectful corrections are appreciated. 谢谢。
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Languages, like music, are entryways into other cultures. My journey Zài Zhōngguó was prompted by my desire to become fluent in Mandarin. Last month, I celebrated my one-year anniversary of studying Chinese on the language learning app, Duolingo. I didn’t miss a single day! 恭喜我自己！
Technically, I’ve been studying Chinese for about 18 months. I don’t usually celebrate milestones, but Duolingo was kind enough to remind me how long I’ve been using their app. And honestly, I am proud that I was able to stay dedicated and consistent to at least one thing for more than a year now. Out of all the accomplishments in my life, this one may seem small. But honestly, it has been one of the most rewarding.
As people learn about my new hobby, they often have questions.
“How are you learning Chinese? Isn’t it hard?”
Well, in honor of my anniversary, I thought I would answer those questions and share a little bit about my learning process.
How It All Started
So, how did my language journey begin? If you’ve read East of Flatbush, North of Love you’ll know that my family has long been connected – albeit tangentially – to Chinese culture via my Dad’s decades-long practice of Chinese martial arts. In our house, you could always find a pair of 筷子(kuàizǐ – chopsticks), as well as all sorts of kung fu paraphernalia – movies, books, and training equipment. Yet, I never had a burning desire to learn Chinese. I always knew that I would study an East Asian language one day, but that day did not come until December 2023. And it came rather randomly, while watching a kung fu television series (功夫电视剧 - gōng fu diànshì jù) during the Christmas holiday season. I sat watching, Invincible Tie Qiaosan (2014), a series based on legendary martial artist, Leung Kwan (aka “Iron Bridge 3”), starring Ashton Chen (Shi Xiaolong).[1] As I watched, in Chinese with English subtitles, I suddenly thought to myself, “I could learn this!” It was a sudden revelation, one that I’d never had while watching kung fu movies growing up in the 1980s and 90s. Those movies were mostly dubbed in English. There was the occasional movie in Chinese with English subtitles, but that was rare, and many of those movies were in Cantonese.[2] But the new millennium has made Mandarin-language movies and television series more accessible to folks like me. Many are widely available online with both Chinese and English subtitles. This presents a great opportunity for learning.
Now, I know not everyone watching a movie in a foreign language with subtitles will be inspired to learn a new language. After all, I have watched many movies with subtitles and did not get the urge to learn said language. But for whatever reason, something clicked that day in December, and I was suddenly up for a new challenge. So, as we entered 2024, I made learning Mandarin a priority, with the goal of being able to hold basic conversations and read some basic Chinese by the time I arrived in China later in the year.[3] And this would require discipline technique, to borrow a phrase my Dad uses with respect to gōng fu. Really, kung fu refers to a skill developed over time through disciplined practice. And so, I applied this same technique to learning Chinese. I embarked on a program of “self-study” that involved three crucial elements: (1) acclimating the ear; (2) building structure; and (3) building community.
Acclimating the Ear
I was fortunate to attend a middle school that had a strong language program. Because of this, I started learning Spanish, rather seriously, at the age of 9. I continued studying Spanish throughout high school. By my sophomore year in college, I had already taken the senior seminar. When I asked my Spanish professor if I should take lower-level courses to continue my language learning, he replied,
“Why would you do that? What you need to do now is travel to a Spanish-speaking country.”
And so, during my senior year, I conducted an independent study in Puerto Rico. And after college, I would spend a little over three months in Spain, as part of a year-long Watson Fellowship. Since then, I have traveled to several Spanish-speaking countries, often for extended periods of time. Besides studying Spanish for years, I have also taken classes in Italian and Portuguese, and I picked up some French while living in France. Because of these experiences, I have come to understand what works well for me when learning a new language. Acclimating one’s ear to a new language is vital. I knew this would be especially important as I began to learn Chinese. Not only is Chinese a very foreign language to me (i.e. there are virtually no similarities to English or the romance languages I’ve studied),[4] but also, it is a tonal language. With tonal languages, the meaning of a word changes based on the inflection, or tone, used when spoken. Mandarin has four tones. Because of this, I decided that I would first start the process of learning by simply acclimating my ears to the language. Besides, this is the most natural way to learn (it’s how babies do it!), and it was a pretty good excuse to watch endless kung fu movies!
I’m not gonna lie. It took a very long time for me to identify my first Chinese word using this method. 哈哈。In contrast, a few years ago, I remember watching my first K-drama in Korean with subtitles.[5] It didn’t take me long to start picking up words. Chinese was another story altogether. After countless hours of watching – I mean countless! – my first word was “Hǎo” (好). In hindsight, this isn’t surprising. The word is frequently used in every day speech. The word’s meaning can vary slightly based on context, but it can loosely be defined as “good,” “okay,” or “alright.”[6] Then, after nearly two months of just listening to Chinese with the aid of subtitles (usually both English and Chinese), I thought it was time for me to start studying in a more formal manner.
Building A Structure
In late February 2024, I got an old-school composition book (you know the black and white marbled ones), turned to the second page, and wrote at the top, “Mandarin 101.” Yes. I am a nerd. Quite proud of it, too! 哈哈。I continued my movie marathons, but this time, I started writing down whatever words I thought I heard clearly. I wrote the words phonetically in English. I was not yet able to write hanzi (汉字 – Chinese characters) or pinyin (拼音). Pinyin is a phonetic system for learning Chinese that utilizes the Roman (i.e. Latin) alphabet. Learning pinyin was a game changer. If I could correctly write a word in pinyin, then I could plug it into a translator app to determine its meaning. Although there are benefits to pinyin, it also has its drawbacks…a story for another day.
Well, I got a good chuckle looking at some of my early vocabulary lists. The mistakes I made were not unlike those of a child learning to speak. But at least my ears were active. A lot of words were right, even if my spelling was not standard. You’ll see my transcription on the left, followed by the pinyin, hanzi, and English translation. In the first example, I likely combined the Chinese words for “big brother” and “older brother” (gēgē – 哥哥) to get “da gugh.”
da gugh – dà gē (大哥) – big brother
mayō – méiyou (没有) – no
sō – zou (走) – let’s go (literally “walk”)
mintien – míngtiān (明天) – tomorrow
As I continued developing my vocabulary, I knew it would be important to start learning Chinese grammar – that is how sentences are put together. I began searching for YouTube channels focused on teaching Chinese to English speakers. These helped me to start understanding some basics of Chinese language, including grammar, pinyin, and hanzi. Around this same time, I joined a language exchange app and gained several language partners. (More on this below). A couple of months later, in May 2024, one of my partners suggested that I try out the aforementioned language learning app, Duolingo. And that significantly upped my game.
Now, I am not advertising for Duolingo. (No affiliate links here!) But I will say that the app has been instrumental in helping me to rapidly develop my vocabulary, get a better understanding of Chinese grammar, and learn hanzi in a systematic way. Nonetheless, the app has its shortcomings. In particular, I find many of the English translations of Chinese phrases to be clumsy at best. And while I think I have a decent enough command of the English language, I can’t help but think that the app is making my English worser worse.[7]
Building Community
They say, “it takes a village.” A bit cliché, but true. A language cannot be learned in isolation. Sometimes children whose language skills appear to be developing slowly have no learning disability. It’s simply that no one has spoken to them much in the years prior to attending school. Conversation is important for language development. A couple weeks after starting my “self-study” program, I signed up for the language exchange app, Tandem, and quickly gained seven new language partners. I know that sounds crazy, and it was not my intention to have that many partners. But, when you start, the app encourages you to reach out to ten people, as there’s no guarantee you’ll click with everyone. Indeed, the first person I had a conversation with, though nice, didn’t seem like a good fit. And I later parted ways with one of the original seven because of scheduling. I gained a couple more partners over the course of the year, and I now deem them all part of my soul tribe. Some live in China, some outside of China. But they are all native speakers, and they all have contributed to my language learning growth. They have been pivotal in me understanding the cultural nuances of the language, and were an integral part of a successful first visit to China. And at a time where the world seems off its rocker, they have helped to restore my faith in humanity. 他们是好人.
As part of our practice, I proposed 1-hour video chats where we would speak for 30 minutes in English and 30 minutes in Chinese. Because I had seven language partners, that was essentially one meeting per day. It’s a lot; I know. But I was determined, and there really wasn’t anyone that I wanted to get rid of; I liked them all. 哈哈. Plus, I reminded myself that learning something new takes time. In middle school we would get about 40-45 minutes of language instruction each day. Discipline technique. 语言功夫.
The Fruits of My Labor
Is learning Chinese hard? Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not sure how to answer that question. It’s a bit relative, no? For me, speaking Chinese is no easy feat; the tones are a challenge (声调很难). But the grammar feels a lot easier than other languages I’ve studied. And I have been studying Chinese for over a year now. Am I fluent? Hell, no! 哈哈. But my language skills have improved significantly over time. This is where discipline technique comes into play. I practice daily, usually for at least 45 minutes. Are there days when I don’t want to practice? Yes! But, I also recognize that “everyday ain’t Sunday.” Each day of study does not have to be perfect.
Truthfully, my progress with the language has not been as fast as I would have liked. My preference would have been to be fluent as of yesterday. 哈哈. It is only recently that I have gained enough confidence to start making short conversations in Chinese with my language partners. They have noticed and commented on the improvement. What has made the process easier is that I am learning Chinese purely for the pleasure of it, and to be able to communicate with people. (Allyuh know I does love to explatiate.)[8] I am planting seeds without concern for the results. Sure, I am watering the seeds and nurturing them to the best of my ability. I have set some timelines to accomplish my learning goals. But if they don’t happen exactly as planned, I’m okay. I am satisfied that I have made headway understanding a language that is quite different from both my native tongue and second language. I am happy that through this process I have been able to meet people from across the globe, learn about their culture, and build genuine connections.
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So Happy Anniversary to me! Over the past year, I have spent countless hours studying Chinese. Hours that arguably could have been spent doing something else, perhaps something more lucrative. Some may consider this wasted time. But I don’t believe I was put on this path for no reason, so I will follow it where it leads me. So far, I have experienced immense joy during this time of learning. And although I do not know what fruits will sprout from these seeds I have sown, perhaps in the future, this study will serve me and others well. At least I’ll be able to better speak Chinese during my next trip Zài Zhōngguó.
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Notes:
[1] Tiě qiáo sān translates as “Iron Bridge 3.”
[2] In fact, when I first started studying Mandarin it sounded “foreign,” that is not like Chinese. Most of the Chinese that I would have heard growing up (whether through movies or on the streets of New York) would have been in Cantonese.
[3] I didn’t quite realize that goal. I didn’t reach that level of proficiency until shortly after my trip to China. Nonetheless, I was able to have some hilarious communications Zài Zhōngguó, utilizing my bad Chinese 哈哈。
[4] Romance languages are derived from Vulgar Latin, a form of Latin commonly spoken during the Roman Empire. Today, the most widely spoken romance languages are Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian.
[5] K-drama is short for Korean drama.
[6] During my movie marathons, I came across several uses of the word hǎo – hǎo a, hǎo le, hǎo ba, hǎo de. Am I missing any? What did all of these hǎo’s mean!? How many variations of hǎo can one have?! 哈哈。I remember one of my language partners explained the subtle differences between each variation. Over time, and after watching loads of gōng fu diànyǐng and C-dramas (Chinese dramas), I’ve started to understand how to employ them in conversation.
[7] Perhaps I’ll discuss the pros and cons of Duolingo in a future post.
[8] A word I acquired growing up in a Trini household. The word is a combination of the words “explain” and “expatiate,” and means to simultaneously explain and talk about something at length, often with a bit of hyperbole.