Character Building

Posted on by

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.

 

 

 

5,382 thoughts on “Character Building”

  9. When I originally commented I appear to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now whenever a comment is added I get 4 emails with the same comment. Perhaps there is an easy method you are able to remove me from that service? Kudos.

    Reply ↓

  15. The very next time I read a blog, I hope that it does not fail me as much as this particular one. After all, I know it was my choice to read through, but I genuinely thought you’d have something helpful to talk about. All I hear is a bunch of moaning about something you could possibly fix if you weren’t too busy searching for attention.

    Reply ↓

  23. I truly love your blog.. Very nice colors & theme. Did you create this web site yourself? Please reply back as I’m planning to create my very own blog and would love to find out where you got this from or exactly what the theme is called. Appreciate it!

    Reply ↓

  25. A fascinating discussion is definitely worth comment. I think that you ought to publish more about this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but usually folks don’t discuss such issues. To the next! All the best.

    Reply ↓

  30. The very next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesn’t fail me just as much as this particular one. After all, I know it was my choice to read through, however I truly thought you’d have something useful to say. All I hear is a bunch of moaning about something you can fix if you were not too busy seeking attention.

    Reply ↓

  35. Hi there! I simply would like to offer you a huge thumbs up for the excellent information you have right here on this post. I’ll be returning to your website for more soon.

    Reply ↓

  36. Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thank you, However I am having problems with your RSS. I don’t know why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anybody else having similar RSS issues? Anyone that knows the answer will you kindly respond? Thanx!

    Reply ↓

  41. Can I simply say what a relief to find someone who really understands what they’re talking about over the internet. You certainly understand how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More and more people have to check this out and understand this side of your story. I can’t believe you aren’t more popular given that you surely have the gift.

    Reply ↓

  48. Aw, this was an exceptionally good post. Taking the time and actual effort to make a superb article… but what can I say… I hesitate a whole lot and don’t seem to get nearly anything done.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply to WW88 Cancel reply

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