Learning Chinese: My Background

In a previous post I mentioned that I have been studying Chinese for eight years. That isn't quite accurate. I did have my first experience learning Chinese in a classroom setting about eight years ago, but I have not studied for eight full years, and I certainly do not have the proficiency level of someone who has.

I first studied Chinese during my sophomore year of high school, in a high school class. Why did I choose to study Chinese? The reason for that is rather simple; I was bored and needed a challenge. I had already gained (and lost) fluency in Spanish, I certainly didn't see a point in relearning a language that I knew I wouldn't use often enough to retain. At least with Chinese, I knew that even if I never used the language outside of class that it would be a new, interesting and challenging experience.

I studied Chinese during my sophomore and junior year, but stopped studying in my senior year because I needed to open my schedule to take some classes that were required for graduation. It wasn't until another year after graduation that I decided to go to college and begin studying Chinese again.

I during that period of time between my junior year of high school and first year of college, I did not learn or use any Chinese. Even the Chinese friends that I had at the time spoke Cantonese, not Mandarin, so when it came time to register for classes, I decided to enter a beginning Chinese class. At the time, I struggled with it, which showed me that I made the right decision. I studied City College of San Francisco's (CCSF) first year of Mandarin and was starting to feel good about it. However, some financial set-backs and family hardship kept me from continuing my education. I dropped out of school and it wasn't until spring of 2008 that I returned to school with the determination to study Chinese and complete my schooling with that as my major.

Again, during the period of time I did not use any Mandarin, but in the year and a half leading to my return to college, I began to pick up Cantonese from my friends. My level of vocabulary, knowledge of grammar and ability to identify and use proper intonation in Mandarin, far exceed those same skills in Cantonese. I am, however, far more comfortable speaking Cantonese as I often practice with friends, and my ability to speak with decent fluidity is greater when I speak Cantonese. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but that is truthfully my situation.

In summer 2008, I entered a competition called Hanyu Qiao (汉语桥), in which I competed in a proficiency competition against other Chinese language students around the world. As you can imagine, with my lack of experience, never having traveled to China to study abroad, or even exceeded 2 years of study in the US, I did NOT fair well. It was the most humbling experience of my life, but the most eye-opening and meaningful experience as well. I returned to the US with new acquaintances, new abilities and most importantly new goals.

My current goal is to improve my proficiency in the language, get accepted to a university in China and obtain the funding (through scholarship or grant) necessary to cover tuition.

On the way to achieving such goals, I reach out to others who share the same interest. I have started this blog to share my experiences and knowledge of learning Chinese at the basic level, in hopes that others who are just beginning to learn the language, or may be interested in learning the language, will come to my site and share their experiences as well. Within the next month, this blog will move to a new domain, onto a fully functional web page. For now, feel free to leave comments, suggestions or questions about anything as a direct comment to each post. I will respond as often as possible with a new post topic, or through email if you prefer.

That's a lot to read at one time about lil' ol' me, If you've made it this far, I appreciate and thank you for your interest. Hope to see you again.

Until next time...
-Mike Redus
睿达思