343 days to go (the introduction)
wo hui shuo yidiar putonghua
(i can speak a little mandarin)
It seems like such a waste to have spent the last 26 years communicating in just one language, so 2005 (my 27th) is being dedicated to the pursuit of learning another - Mandarin Chinese. Watch and learn!
The plan is to move to Qingdao (need help locating that? go here, zoom in, it's on the coast next to where it says "Yellow Sea") and literally, "go native". Having told all my non-Chinese speaking friends that I'd (frankly) prefer it if they didn't visit me (since I would have to entertain them in English), I'm hoping that one year of living in a place where the ability to speak Mandarin is the difference between, say, eating and not-eating, should do the trick.
Oh and I have a friendly bet with my boss, who suggested it might be a tall-order. The wager is US $1,000.
15 Comments:
Ni Hao, Paulie.
Hao de. Hao de. Yi nian yihou, women kan yi xia nide putonghua bijiao hao le.
I'll be watching this space to learn vicariously through you.
(Are you going to write this blog in Chinese, eventually? That would be excellent)
Sakimoto Takahashi
Hey Sakit,
Xiexie ni.
I was actually worried that blogging in English would be counter-productive to the goal, so thanks for the great idea!
Chinese blogs (translated, of course) coming soon ...
Paulie
More power to ya Paulie! If anyone can do it, its you. I can't wait to hear ya speaking chinese in a few months. Of course, I will still have no idea what you are saying...but I will be proud of you!!
Hey Paulie,
Can I visit you and speak Cantonese with a Mandarin accent? :-)
Good luck with it Paulie, it takes courage, but trust me, Chinese is not as complicated as Western people make it out to be!
Oh and I know that Flic can't access Blogger and she uses Xanga for her blog. You might want to check out the censorship.
Hugs, Lil xoxo
Ni hao di di,
zhu ni hao yun, bao chi lian xi.
heyhey,
good luck for ur Chinese adventure, should be fun and you will love the city, trust me!; )
mmm,just might be a bit troublesome to blog in Chinese in blogger? i tried once but seems didn't work...:( tell me if you make it.
cheers!maybe can talk to u in summer! in mandarin, and just imagin after one year in Europe how bad my Chinese can go...
Hey Paulie, I dont know if you remember me! Im Maria from Malta.... we met at a few conferences and I even gave you a lift after IPM .. Hope all is well! Good Luck with your adventure, Hugs from Brussels, Maria
Welcome on board brotha, it's about time you joined the revolution. We gotta step up our "story sharing" commitment to each other. :)
paul van dyk! paul van dyk! paul van dyk!
; )
Paulie...
Why Mandarin....??? Isn't that kinda useless. Why not German?
btw paulie, you bad influence on youth, you!!!
i'm inspired and i'm takin on the Espanol Challenge!!!
hey paulie
i don't know if i can meet native, but after two years of kind of living here in netherlands i'm taking the [insert sound like coughing up your lungs here] Dutch challenge
let's bet each other a bubble tea
x Zoe
Go Paulie!
All the best with your pursuit!
Damn, your still in HK? Good times in Wan Chai...
Hey Paul,
Is the bet to learn to read & write Chinese (I'm assuming characters) up to what standard? Are we talking a thousand characters, like primary school level? Or is the bet for the full crazy pick up a newspaper or business journal & read it?
By the way, don't know if Paris told you - we're pregnant. So is Jess with her 2nd & Mel & Ritchie with their 2nd
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