Adventures in Mandarin

For quite a long time, I have had in interest in the Chinese language. I think that it was the artistry of the written characters that first attracted me. Each word is a picture that tells its own story. Well, last year, in preparation for a vacation to China (see the Wafflers blog for details on that), I took it upon myself to learn a little Mandarin.

Just to take a step back, there is no language called Chinese per se. Each region has its own language, and all these different languages (generally referred to as dialects) are mutually unintelligable. The kicker is this, even though these regional languages are all different, they are all written the same. So if you see a cute girl on the bus, maybe you can't talk to her, but you can always write her a note.

But regional languages aside, at some point Mandarin was made the official language of China, and the people were so educated. So most Chinese speak their regional language, as well Mandarin. And Mandarin, from what I have been told, is spoken inTawain, Singapore, and Maylasia. So it is a pretty popular language.

Anyhow, as I was saying, in preparation for my trip, I learned a little Mandarin. Nothing fancy, mind you, just a few key things like "Hello", "Do you speak English?", and "You're cute. Do you come here often?". But the people over there were so patient and encourage anytime I tried to use what little I knew, it made want to learn more. They were all very kind, and wrote down diferent useful words and phrases for me in my travel notebook, so I came back with more than I brought. And by the time I got back, I knew that I wanted to continue my studies...