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.

 

 

 

1,854 thoughts on “Character Building

  1. The very next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesn’t fail me just as much as this one. After all, I know it was my choice to read, but I genuinely thought you would probably have something helpful to say. All I hear is a bunch of crying about something that you could fix if you were not too busy searching for attention.

  2. You are so cool! I do not suppose I have read a single thing like this before. So nice to find somebody with a few unique thoughts on this topic. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This site is one thing that’s needed on the internet, someone with a bit of originality.

  3. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been conducting a little homework on this. And he in fact ordered me breakfast because I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to discuss this issue here on your website.

  4. I’m impressed, I have to admit. Genuinely rarely must i encounter a weblog that’s both educative and entertaining, and without a doubt, you could have hit the nail on the head. Your thought is outstanding; ab muscles an element that too little consumers are speaking intelligently about. I am delighted that I stumbled across this at my hunt for some thing about it.

  5. I’m extremely inspired together with your writing skills and also with the structure to your blog. Is this a paid topic or did you customize it yourself? Either way stay up the excellent quality writing, it is uncommon to look a nice blog like this one nowadays. I like 67sixteen.org !

  6. I’m really impressed with your writing talents and also with the format in your weblog. Is that this a paid subject matter or did you customize it your self? Either way stay up the nice high quality writing, it’s uncommon to see a nice weblog like this one nowadays. I like 67sixteen.org ! My is: Beehiiv

  7. I’m amazed, I must say. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is an issue that too few people are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy I found this in my search for something relating to this.

  8. Knitting within the Continental technique means you management the yarn in your left hand, and you “choose,” as it is called, loops from the left needle to create stitches.

  9. Greetings, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however, if opening in I.E., it has some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Aside from that, fantastic site!

  10. I simply wanted to develop a small comment so as to say thanks to you for some of the lovely solutions you are sharing on this website. My rather long internet investigation has at the end been honored with reliable points to go over with my company. I would believe that most of us visitors actually are undoubtedly endowed to dwell in a really good place with many outstanding people with insightful suggestions. I feel very privileged to have come across your entire webpage and look forward to many more amazing moments reading here. Thank you again for a lot of things.

  11. I am extremely inspired together with your writing talents as smartly as with the format on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it your self? Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s uncommon to peer a nice blog like this one today. I like 67sixteen.org ! It is my: Instagram Auto comment

Leave a Reply

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