Charting My Progress in Chinese

CHARTING CHINESE PROGRESS
I studied chinese at uni, three years as a major, but when i got to china i quickly found that my spoken chinese was somewhere between poor and basic. Now that i have completed my first year living and working chinese i would like to compare the progress in regard to different areas.

FLAWED UNI MAJOR
Prime minister Kevin Rudd also from the Australian National University Chinese program as have others that i know now speak impeccable Chinese. Over 3 years i would have to say that the program wasn't all that great because of the course structure and syllabus. Basically the departing head of chinese Cam Louie, after 6 months under him, rode off into the sunset (some HK uni post) leaving us with Mrs Yang. Cam's focus was (apparently) more spoken and practical focused while Yang's new regime leaned heavily towards chinese disciplines of flying through the text book (NPCR), learning countless new words, and testing continuously. Its not nessesarily a bad approach nor a strictly chinese one, but id have to say that it leaves a strong foundation in writing, knowing and using character, but a gaping hole in listening and speaking.











ARRIVING IN CHINA
It become instantly apparent to me that most chinese's english was better than my own chinese, HUGELY disheartening. I thought: these guys have english on tv, on signs, pushed down their throat and on top of this they have stuided for countless more years than me - i stand no chance! Luckily they seemed to follow the same cram and ram style learning that i had endured. So they could read and write abit, but not really engage in a meaningful conversation. Plus, like me, they overestimated their language abilities. I thought it was clearly intermediate, if not pushing into advanced, which was way off according to the real language environment and even the HSK benchmark. You have to balance being confident and positive off against the situation on the ground.

REFLECTIONS AFER A YEAR
I spent one semester at Zhejiang University and over 6 months in a infinity superior privite school, on top of that i regularly use chinese at work, home and out. I'm tempted to say that my one year here easily eclipses the three i spent in Australia studing. Quick-fire conclusion don't bother studing at home, just go aborad. But the reason i accelled so quickly is because of a decent vocab, reasonable gramer, and the ability to write and memorise charater quickly, these skills don't nessesarily need to be learned aborad, but i think they click better once combinded with a active environment.






GOING FORWARD
Its imperative to getting into patterns of speaking to native chinese for entended periods of time, on a daily bases. This might be hard but you need to find a way, whether you are the social type and can aquire a friend a minute, pay a tutor to talk to you or find a partner, you need interaction to get to the next level (advanced). I really think keeping your reading/writing abilitiy balanced with your speaking/listening helps heaps as they compliment each other. Reading and writing is a sole quest, but i do use a tutor for working for the nitty gritties like grammer, tones and drafting my writing.

Angry expat - The last rant

I will not become an angry ex-pat.
I will not become an angry ex-pat.
I will not become an angry ex-pat.

Keeping positive. China is great fun for a while, i'll put it down (depending on exposure levels) to about 3-9 months of mystical wonder.

The Magic

1) CHEAP STUFF im rich, chinese people are are not, i can buy everyone i want. Weeeeeeee

2) Cute and crazy cultural things, they may grind later on, but these include vehicles of questionable quality towing half a house along, old people doing tai chi with silly clothing, children with bare bums pissing in a public pot plant.

3) Shadows of a great historical past, west lake for me, Hutongs in BJ, french quarters in SH, something about these places, after a few drinks at night, really still sparkle. Plus china has limitless travel potential despite countless pitfalls and dramas of traveling.

The Mayhem

1) The chaos, the crowds, the pollution, the public selfishness. I was well ready for this, but on some bad mood days, reaching bursting point is a heartbeat away.

2) Something that i didn't expect is the "Special Treatment" people with white skin receive. I never expected this on such a scale. People don't listen to your chinese, the hellos, the generalisations (everyone assumes your american). In my experience my co-workers think im useless and overpaid, perhaps to a degree, but the exceptionalism is so brazen some days i think im another species.

3) Business. Chinese seem to have no organic uncodified moral compass, other than some loose bullshit about public face. Screwing someone over in business is the unfortunate norm. There is no long term alliance building, like i thought guanxi worked, but rather a "big deal or no deal" reigning mentality. This leads to poor service, poor work ethics and shady business practises.

But with that out of my system, i would like do a deal with china and not begin the decent into angry expat existence.

1) The people are people. Chinese people are upbeat, warm, and externally open. Thats once you push away from the "community" mode into the "friends and family" mode. I really have nothing against the basic chinese ambition, lifestyle and personalities. I do not think i am better than chinese people, at all! I think people often need to make this personal connection to better understand and accept china.

2) i hear about people who hate china but love learning chinese. I think they go hand in hand. The enormous but tangible challenge is perhaps the biggest mountain i will climb in my life, and its true: the more you learn, the better it gets.

3) The future is getting better. I really believe that the public chaos is on some level getting better. All the drawbacks previously mentioned are in retreat or at least stable, and i share the chinese optimism for the future.

With that out of the way, no more mindless bitches, only constructive insight....maybe