Back to study

People are too nice here when I manage to say any word in mandarin. The answers range from the utter surprise at me being able to say or to read anything, to the ones that very kindly appreciate that I might know some more complicated word and praise me for doing so. If you ask me, I think I should know much more after staying one year in Taiwan. Of course, I only started studying a little by myself in the summer and I sure noticed I was getting better; but I had not done too much after Christmas. Progress is then very slow.

One good thing of this linguistic immersion that I am experiencing is that I continuously reinforce through different channels what I learn and, little by little, I get better. Besides, I am very used to listening to mandarin and I am sure that that helps, even if I only understand a fraction of it. In fact, since several months ago, I can make out parts of sentences and, sometimes, full ones. Maybe I am too critical with myself, but I must spend more time studying mandarin if I want to break through, because it is too different from the languages I know and it does not seep through so easily.

So, a couple of week-ends ago, I started again with the lessons I was taking. It is not the first try I make, and it is not going so well lately, but I intend to get farther than the last time, because now I should be able to practice more. The goal is to get into the habit and then it will be easy to keep. Until I reach the rudimentary level that I can manage to get, of course.