我跟以前的老师聊天

Last night I decided to give my former teacher Beijing a call. Not long ago she decided to leave eChineseLearning to pursue a totally different career. So far it seems like it's working out for her.

The conversation lasted for about 1.5 hours, and I was happily able to speak Mandarin with her (a few words of English might slip in here and there, but it was 95% Mandarin). It's a great feeling to be able to pick up a phone and start a Mandarin conversation with someone from Mainland China.

For a guy that isn't good with academics and doesn't like the textbooks, being able to converse in Mandarin after a year of intense study is not too bad. Try it out.

In case you were wondering, I buy phone cards from ComFi to call overseas.

-Brian 陈金龙

台北

I could already see my teacher saying "I told you so" when I first stepped foot into the Taoyuan airport in Taiwan. The hostel we were supposed to stay at was quite far from the airport. My friend and I had a choice to either:

1. Get into a taxi cab, show him the address in Chinese, and pay him 1000 NTD to take us there, OR
2. Pay about a total of 150 NTD by taking the shuttle into 台北车站, then taking the subway to Guting Station, near the hostel.

Money wasn't an issue, but I wanted to challenge myself. At first I was on a roll. Before getting off the airplane, I had chatted with the cute stewardess on Eva Air while the plane was landing. The conversation went something like this:

我：小姐，你知道在哪里可以买SIM卡吗？
小姐：以前7-eleven有，但是现在我觉得不能。不过，手机店肯定有。
我：好！谢谢！
小姐：先生，你从哪里来？
我：美国！我住在洛杉矶。而且，我在美国出生。
小姐：你来过台湾吗？
我：没去过。我去过中国，但是台湾是第一次。
小姐：是吗？我觉得你的国语不错。你多久学习国语？
我：一年左右。我用电脑学习。我的老师住在北京。我们用Skype上课？
小姐：只有一年？我觉得学过一年会那么好，你很厉害！
我：不是，不是！
小姐：很好！你治到你要去哪里吗？你来台北工作还是旅行？
我：当然旅行！现在我不知道，可是现在我有一个朋友住在台北学习中文。我们等他介绍。
小姐：阿，很好。我希望你的旅行很好玩！

I only remember snip bits of the conversation, but this was essentially our conversation before we landed in Taoyuan airport. After landing, we exchanged some money and went over to a phone booth to call my friend we had arrived. Then we went over to the bus station and I attempted to buy two tickets. My friend didn't speak any Chinese whatsoever. I went to the first lady at one of the counters and said "我们要买票去台北车站。" She looked at me all confused and then pointed me to the next counter over. It was obvious I couldn't read much.

My teacher, Mona, had always warned me about it. She said I needed to spend more time reading short stories and articles to improve my reading skills. My mom kept telling me the same also. They both knew I could not read well. In fact, my reading and writing skills are much weaker compared to what I could do in high school, but my speaking skills have improved dramatically.

So right when I stepped foot into Taiwan, the problem was already apparent. What's worse, I could not read many of the menu items in the restaurants I went to. Usually, if i heard it pronounced, I could tell what it likely was, but since I couldn't read at one of the restaurants, I simply asked for 排骨饭, because those three characters were the only ones I recognized. My two other friends, who couldn't speak or read in Mandarin, ended up eating 排骨饭 as well.

Outside of the class

I have to admit my first teacher, Mona, was quite amazing. Not only did she only speak Chinese during class sessions, but she always pushed me to speak more Chinese outside of class. She always told me, 如果你有机会说汉语，你得说！

She asked me to start recalling all the places I visit throughout the week where I could choose to speak Mandarin:

1. Sesame Inn (popular local Chinese restaurant in Newbury Park)
2. 小美 （我去这家餐厅吃生煎包）。
3. Any other random place.

Sesame Inn was probably the coolest place. The owner of the restaurant is originally from a city near Beijing. One night I went over there to order some dinner and started speaking Mandarin to her. She smiled with such delight! 我告诉她现在我在学习普通话。我的老师说我去你的餐厅买东西吃的时候，我应该跟你一起讲普通话。所以，你跟我说可以吗？

她回答当然阿！

I think more than anything, she was happy to find out I wanted to make that effort. I think for her, she was noticing that many young ABCs are now forgetting how to use Chinese, and it was refreshing for her to see me have a passion to learn how to speak. She decided to be patient with me and explained any new vocabulary she used that I was not familiar with. Her patience was the key to my encouragement. If she was too frustrated with me and decided to speak English instead...I'd do the same. But she didn't.

It also helps that she is cute =).

A Typical Class

I've spent a lot of time talking about how great eChineseLearning, but I haven't gone too much in depth with how the class actually operates.

Despite what level of class you choose, all teachers will have a pre-determined lesson plan. They will given a typical 课文，which will start with a list of vocabulary that will be used, followed by short passages and short exercises to demonstrate how the new vocabulary will be used. Grammar lessons are also included. You spend time reading along and repeating after the teacher, followed by going through the exercise meant to help emphasize what you have learned.

So what am I doing on my end? Meaning, what do I do on the computer while class is in session? Usually I'll have multiple useful web sites open. At the time, I was using zhongwen.com and world.altavista.com as tools for class.

I primarily use zhongwen.com for looking up words I don't know, and world.altavista.com to translate phrases I don't understand. Unfortunately, I initially had to spend a LOT of time using these two web sites. My Mandarin was so pour at the time I just couldn't keep up at times.

But despite all my problems, you know what was the most important thing? My teacher was very patient with me. She never got frustrated if it took her 10 times to explain something to me. She stuck with me until I understood. Otherwise I might have already lost faith in myself.

我听说你们会讲国语

Those were the first words I said to my cousins when I arrived in Sihanoukville at my third auntie's house. I couldn't speak Khmer, and my cousins couldn't speak 潮州话. English was also a difficult choice as well, they had a hard time understanding American English. But both of my cousins can speak Mandarin. In fact, they are Mandarin teachers!

In January of 2008, it was my first real attempt to use Chinese with someone outside of the US, and with someone whom could not speak good English. If I didn't try, I wouldn't be able to learn anything about my cousins. And honestly, that was the main purpose of my trip to Cambodia. Not only to see where my parents came from, but to see my mom's side of the family. In the United States, it's mostly relatives from my paternal side. I needed to see my mom's side for a sense of closure with family.

My youngest aunt also lived in the area, and I met her daughter. I had to speak Mandarin with her as well. At first it was all very hard because I was only comfortable speaking with my teacher. And even then, my brain still still took some time to process my sentences. It didn't quite feel natural yet. I struggled, and they could tell, but since they were teachers they were quite accommodating. They did everything they could to help me. I was quite encouraged.
I think what was really cool is that I spent this entire trip speaking mostly Chinese languages. English was only used with my sister.

在柬埔寨我跟我的三姨妈说潮州话。而且，我跟我的两个表妹说国语。他们的英文不好，而且我的柬埔寨话非常不好。所以，我只有一个选择：中文。如果我说英文，我只跟我的姐姐说。我觉得我的姐姐的情况比较难。她只能说潮州话和英文。我的小表妹会说英文，但是她的英文不太好。所以，她听我的姐姐说英文的时候，她经常听不明白。

So most of the time, my sister sat there and was on her own. When my brain was up to it, I took any opportunity I could to speak Mandarin. By the time I returned back to the US at the end of January, it was clear that my Mandarin had significantly improved.

How did I know? 我的老师告诉我 :-). From that day on, my enthusiasm for Mandarin jumped dramatically. It did so because I had reached a milestone in my progress. I spent September, October, November, and December constantly struggling just to keep a consistent conversation going with my teacher. Every other word that came out of my mouth always needed some help from her. But this time...it was different.

Starting eChineseLearning

Around September of 2007, I signed up for eChineseLearning after a colleague had referred it to me. At first it was hard. I knew how to read pinyin and a limited amount of characters, but I COULD NOT speak. But the initial shock was the method of teaching using technology. I've never really used Skype as a teaching tool before. The teachers use video and voice to teach you. It's also a 1-on-1 course, which does help a lot because you get complete attention for the entire duration of class.

I could not use English. That was the rule. Typing in English was okay if I needed help, but I had to force myself to use Mandarin, even if I struggled. Even if I could only utter a few sentences in one class, it didn't matter. It had to be in Mandarin. It was hard, even though I already have a Chinese background. However, I always lacked the experience of keeping a conversation Mandarin. At the time, I also lacked the confidence.

Two months into it I almost felt like quitting, but a good friend convinced me to stick around, and I'm glad I did. My first real test came when I visited Cambodia to see my relatives in Janurary the following year in 2008. This was ultimately the turning point for me. More on that in the next blog!

我是朝州人

你们都知道潮州人是谁吗？

I know on the last post I said I would talk more about eChineseLearning, but something else came to mind tonight. I thought about the "kind of Chinese" that I am. Specifically I am Teo Chiu. Teo Chiu is referred to in a few different ways in English:

1. Chiu Chow (广东话)
   
2. Teo Chiu (潮州话)
   
3. Chaozhou (普通话)

It's all the same, but some people are used to hearing it a certain way. I grew up speaking the dialect at home with my parents and continue to do so. Growing up, I only cared to learn enough of the language so that I could communicate with my parents. Sometimes I would mix in English if I didn't know the word, hoping my mom would understand what I was trying to say contextually.

When I had returned from Shanghai, my curiousity of the history of Teo Chiu people grew. This is because while I was in Shanghai, the local residents there had a sense of identity. They spoke Shanghainese, and only spoke Mandarin to an "outsider." At the time I didn't think too much about it, but it didn't end there. Later in the study abroad program I also went to Suzhou and Huangshan. Again...local residents of the area spoke their own dialect. They spoke it when they didn't want us to understand them. Again, we were considered "outsiders."

When I came back to the states, I thought to myself...I've been an outsider everywhere in the cities I visited. So where in China am I not an "outsider"? Meaning...where do Teo Chiu people living in China? But I didn't have that sense of being Teo Chiu. It still was nothing more than a language I spoke at home. So on Google, I found Gaginang.org. Visit the site, and you'll get idea what it's all about. From this site, I learned more about the lives of other Teo Chiu people my age. As I learned more and more, I found myself back to China in 2006, but this time around in the ChaoShan area, home to the Teo Chiu people in China.

So what does this have to do with Mandarin?

Teo Chiu people are known to be very properous wherever they go. Teo Chiu people exist all over Southeast Asia and also in many western Countries such as Australia and the United States. One particular trait of Teo Chiu people, at least with my parent's generation, is that they can speak multiple languages. It's not unusual to meet a Teo Chiu person that can speak Teo Chiu, Mandarin, Cantonese, Khmer, Vietnamese, and English. Knowing several languages helps to do business. And I know Teo Chiu people are proud of this. They'll pick up another language without formal schooling and speak it as if it were their own native language. It's a perfect way to blend into a new Asian society.

So am I learning Mandarin because Teo Chiu people like me should know it? Because my parents did it, I should as well? Not really. As a kid, this was the reason, but at the time it was more of a burden. This time it's no longer the same. I'm making time and going out of my way to learn it when I could be doing so many other things. This time, it feels right. This time, the real Teo Chiu side of me woke up. Teo Chiu ws no longer just a language. It finally became an identity for me. I now have this sense of proudness and happiness knowing I am Teo Chiu. From the moment I found Gaginang, this side of me was slowly waking up.