Mandarin is a very hard language to pick up. I've been studying the language for about 4 months and I can say a few basic things. Like "Wo jiao Briggs lao shi," I am teacher Briggs. Which is useful when introducing myself to the students, but not so useful surviving the streets of Shanghai.
The school here, Shanghai No. 2 High School, has set up a crash course in Mandarin for the students to help them, and I sit in on these classes. I find them very helpful, as we have learned the history of Chinese characters and a few basic phrases that will help us through the next few weeks. (How much is it? Where is the______?, I want ________. etc.) The problem I find I'm running into is that when I go to speak to the waiter, vendor, ticketing agent, I start thinking of how to say things in other languages, like Spanish or Italian, and not Mandarin. Mandarin is unlike any other language I've studied, and none of the sounds resemble the word I want to say in English...thus I find myself struggling to communicate. I find that hand gestures and pointing are extreemely useful as this is the 'universal' language between folks.
Another thing that is tricky for me is the use of the metric system. The other day I went to a tea shop and the man asked me how many grams of tea I wanted. Well, that's tough to say because, I'm not sure how large or small 250 grams are. I can't visualize the size of that in my head as the man is talking to me. So I end up getting way more tea that anticipated, but it will not go to waste, as I have 2 cups of tea in the morning before heading off to school.
The school here, Shanghai No. 2 High School, has set up a crash course in Mandarin for the students to help them, and I sit in on these classes. I find them very helpful, as we have learned the history of Chinese characters and a few basic phrases that will help us through the next few weeks. (How much is it? Where is the______?, I want ________. etc.) The problem I find I'm running into is that when I go to speak to the waiter, vendor, ticketing agent, I start thinking of how to say things in other languages, like Spanish or Italian, and not Mandarin. Mandarin is unlike any other language I've studied, and none of the sounds resemble the word I want to say in English...thus I find myself struggling to communicate. I find that hand gestures and pointing are extreemely useful as this is the 'universal' language between folks.
Another thing that is tricky for me is the use of the metric system. The other day I went to a tea shop and the man asked me how many grams of tea I wanted. Well, that's tough to say because, I'm not sure how large or small 250 grams are. I can't visualize the size of that in my head as the man is talking to me. So I end up getting way more tea that anticipated, but it will not go to waste, as I have 2 cups of tea in the morning before heading off to school.
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