In the week between the last lesson and this one, I tried to practice a lot. I made flashcards for all the words and expressions Min and I had gone over; I think I quizzed myself every day except one or two. It felt like taking private music lessons: my teacher would be able to tell however much or little I had repeated these words to myself!
I learned a lot of simple words such as numbers, please, thank you, etc. There were also full expressions on the list, and those were by far the hardest for me. If I'm hoping to live in China, I might as well learn some common phrases besides "Do you speak English?" and "Where is the ATM?" So today, I asked Min to teach me some Chinese grammar.
She gave me a list of personal subject pronouns; there is a "you" plural in Mandarin, and there is a plural suffix that only works for people (on "we," "they," etc.). There are no case-marking particles, so the word for "ball," for example, would be the same whether it is the subject or the object of a sentence. Min also wrote down some expressions that are related to words I already know--"Good morning" and "good afternoon," for example, are close to "hello." Min taught me how to ask how much something costs, and to bargain. We're planning to try a skit next lesson, after I get a chance to study all my new expressions.
Even though I'm starting to see how Chinese fits together, some aspects of it are still hard. My phrasebook listed two words for "no," to be used in different contexts. I asked Min for some practice on how to figure out which word to use when. She explained that there is an entire verb for negation! In some ways, Chinese grammar is simpler than English, though: there is no passive voice in Chinese. Learning these things makes me appreciate the challenges that Chinese students of English have to deal with.
I learned a lot of simple words such as numbers, please, thank you, etc. There were also full expressions on the list, and those were by far the hardest for me. If I'm hoping to live in China, I might as well learn some common phrases besides "Do you speak English?" and "Where is the ATM?" So today, I asked Min to teach me some Chinese grammar.
She gave me a list of personal subject pronouns; there is a "you" plural in Mandarin, and there is a plural suffix that only works for people (on "we," "they," etc.). There are no case-marking particles, so the word for "ball," for example, would be the same whether it is the subject or the object of a sentence. Min also wrote down some expressions that are related to words I already know--"Good morning" and "good afternoon," for example, are close to "hello." Min taught me how to ask how much something costs, and to bargain. We're planning to try a skit next lesson, after I get a chance to study all my new expressions.
Even though I'm starting to see how Chinese fits together, some aspects of it are still hard. My phrasebook listed two words for "no," to be used in different contexts. I asked Min for some practice on how to figure out which word to use when. She explained that there is an entire verb for negation! In some ways, Chinese grammar is simpler than English, though: there is no passive voice in Chinese. Learning these things makes me appreciate the challenges that Chinese students of English have to deal with.
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