Monday, April 30, 2007

Chinese Progress - Beginner Level

One of my top priorities ought to be to get a regular Mandarin tutor, or at least a language exchange partner. I'm up to Lesson 9 in my textbook (the most popular beginner's Mandarin textbook here in Taiwan, judging from the number of other people I've seen carrying it) and I am seriously considering paying for a Chinesepod membership, but I really need a native speaker to listen to my speech and correct it. These days I don't feel enough self-confidence to say much of anything to a local in Chinese, and that needs to change.

Here is one observation - I overhear a lot of obviously non-Asian people here speaking pretty good Chinese (especially in the part of Taipei around Gonguan and Taipower Building MRT stations - that seems to be a local hub of foreigner activity). It happens much more than I ever heard foreigners speaking good Korean in Korea. It's encouraging.

No comments: