Character Building

Amid everything else going on in our lives, I’ve added a new hobby. I briefly mentioned it in my Portland post, but now I’m officially fascinated with the Chinese language.  Brian and I would both really like to become more familiar with the Chinese language, both written and spoken– this is an incredibly overwhelming task considering neither of us knows a lick of Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese). Because we don’t know what provinces we’ll be traveling to until we accept a referral, I’m hedging my bets and starting with Mandarin.

I found a great free app for my phone which allows me to practice correct character writing; every morning I review flashcards on my phone and continue to add more and more characters to my vocabulary. Additionally, one of my colleagues and friends at the museum is Chinese and speaks/writes both Mandarin and Cantonese (not to mention what she considers “Beijingese.”)  She’s been incredibly helpful with my stroke order and pronunciation, and I am feeling less and less awkward with all the different inflections needed for this beautiful language.

I can’t quite explain it, but I’m finding my comprehension growing quite naturally. So far, I find the characters quite logical graphically, and I’m starting to put the pronunciation with the character. Another friend at the museum suggested I check our our library’s language software, and I found out excitedly that our library offers Mango Languages for free for all patrons. Woohoo!

I’m sure I’ll be sharing more quips as I learn more, but I had a great moment this week. As you might guess, Brian and I are settling in on our top name choices for our child (most welfare institute names are given en masse– all children in one institution are given the same last name, and first names are given as a matter of practicality. As we’ve mentioned earlier, all children in the Waiting Child Program have been abandoned, with 99.9% having no identifying information, so no medical record, no birthday listed, no name). After practicing some of the characters at lunch one day, my friend at work stopped by and looked at my paper and was able to read what I had written, including our finalists for names.  It’s difficult to articulate, but to have a native speaker be able to read my very amatueur attempt at such a complex language really made my day.

I know learning a new language from scratch is no short-term goal, but I think we and our child will have a lifetime of learning together.

 

 

 

1,232 thoughts on “Character Building

  1. It’s insidious, as a result of we believe that the internet will give us exactly what we crave if we just know how you can search for it, and that it ought to achieve this with that next press on the refresh button, when in fact that is infrequently the case, particularly when that which you crave is actually to create.

  2. Hi, I believe your blog could possibly be having web browser compatibility issues. When I take a look at your web site in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it’s got some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Besides that, fantastic blog.

  3. Hey there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Superb blog and wonderful design.

  4. Can I simply say what a comfort to uncover somebody who actually understands what they’re talking about on the web. You actually realize how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people must read this and understand this side of your story. I can’t believe you are not more popular since you definitely possess the gift.

  5. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who was doing a little homework on this. And he in fact bought me dinner due to the fact that I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to talk about this matter here on your web site.

  6. May I simply just say what a relief to uncover somebody who genuinely understands what they are discussing on the web. You actually know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More and more people must read this and understand this side of the story. I was surprised that you are not more popular given that you definitely possess the gift.

  7. Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon every day. It will always be useful to read through articles from other writers and practice a little something from their web sites.

  8. Can I just say what a relief to find an individual who truly knows what they’re discussing on the web. You actually know how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More and more people should read this and understand this side of your story. I can’t believe you’re not more popular since you certainly have the gift.

  9. The very next time I read a blog, I hope that it won’t fail me as much as this one. After all, Yes, it was my choice to read, but I actually thought you would probably have something useful to say. All I hear is a bunch of crying about something that you could fix if you were not too busy looking for attention.

  10. I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this site. I’m hoping to check out the same high-grade content by you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own, personal website now 😉

  11. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a friend who has been doing a little homework on this. And he actually ordered me lunch simply because I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to discuss this topic here on your web site.

  12. Hi there! This post could not be written much better! Reading through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this information to him. Pretty sure he will have a great read. Thank you for sharing!

  13. Hello there! This article couldn’t be written much better! Looking at this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept talking about this. I’ll send this information to him. Fairly certain he’ll have a very good read. Thanks for sharing!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *