The best moment came later, after we’d talked for a while. She said to me, “You speak great Chinese. Actually, your Mandarin is better than our boss’s. He’s been here in Beijing more than 10 years but he still doesn’t speak as well as you.”
After 9 years the weather in China still surprises me. At least I’m no longer surprised being surprised. My first few years I was constantly shocked by how quickly the weather changed. The temperature, but also the light.
I took a job in Langfang, a small city between Beijing and Tianjin, and my Chinese rose to a new level. I was often the only English speaker in the open office area where my desk was. Eavesdropping became a great language learning tool.
I studied Chinese in school for over ten years, the final year being at a Chinese university in Beijing. All this did NOT make me fluent. It didn’t make me sound Chinese. So what did? Talking to lots of people – especially taxi drivers.
I am often asked how I learned Mandarin Chinese. The short answer is good fortune and hard work. When I arrived in Beijing I could already read and write Chinese pretty well. Listening comprehension, however, took me a long time.
This is why I go to the dawn service. While it is a holiday for Australia and New Zealand, there is no “us vs them” mentality. All deaths in war are tragic losses. ANZAC Day does not glorify war. Instead, it remembers the cost of war, on all sides.
Lots of people were interested in the bird flu pamphlet I translated, so here is the full translation. “…When going out, try to avoid contact with wild birds or going to the habitat of wild birds…”
Bird flu was confirmed in my neighbourhood. I translated an illustrated pamphlet we received with information in Chinese, to see what the “Shunyi District Health Board” and “Shunyi District Center for Disease Control” are telling the public.
I got completely out of the habit out wearing seatbelts when I first arrived. Many cabs did not HAVE functional seatbelts. I would automatically reach for a seatbelt and the driver would laugh at me, bewildered as to why I would bother with it.
China’s system of terms of address is complex and much more utilised in common speech than in English. While in English most people are addressed by their given name, very few people will address you by your given name in Chinese.
In English, there are recognised names – words that have no meaning on their own, but are simply names. Chinese does not have a set of names like this. There is a set inventory of Chinese surnames, but given names are chosen from existing words.
I thought I would be sad to leave my apartment, that I would miss it a lot, but I mostly feel thankful – for all the things I learned during 3 years in Yinling, and all the memories made there. This post is thank you and farewell to my first real home.
Stories From Tanya 