To learn Chinese

I wanna talk about learning Chinese. I've been learning Chinese now for a number of years. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. I feel like I'm struggling sometimes but overall it's been a very good experience for me. And I think I'm getting better and improving.

I first started learning about... I don't know... maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I went to Taipei to teach English. And at that time, English wasn't so common. So it was quite difficult to get around the city and communicate with normal people if I wanted to go and buy something, things like that. So I just really wanted to try and communicate simple things but at the time, work was veryhectic - quite busy - I didn't have that much time to go to class. And then after my first year in Taipei, I went to Beijing for a holiday. And I saw lots of really amazing things, lots of cultural things and it kind of made me feel like I should try to learn Chinese - learn more about the culture. So when I returned back to my job in Taipei, I enrolled on intensive Chinese course. I studied Chinese 2 hours a day and I did that for 2 years. 

And it was difficult at first. I remember my first... actually the first 6 months I was learning, nobody outside class could understand what I was saying coz my pronunciation was really bad. But I had a really good teacher. And every day, they... err... this teacher drilled me with my pronunciation, focusing on the four tones. So I got better and better, it got to the point where I found outside, on the streets, if I spoke to somebody, usually I could make myself understood. And that was the main thing for me - just to be able to communicate simple things and have short conversations with people.

Erm... I... what I like about Chinese is it sounds really nice... it sounds quite elegant when I listen to it. And it also helps me get... err... an insight in the culture. Through learning Chinese, I've read a number of Chinese books... like story books maybe for children like "Journey to the West" and things like that. So it's helped me learn more about Chinese culture so I feel... I feel good about that. 

It's also used for... for when I've been travelling in China... It's... I've been to many cities now in China. It's helped me a lot to get around, knowing basic phrases and... It's quite funny that when you go to places in China, many people don't think that foreigners can speak Chinese very well. So it's always... it's always quite funny to speak to somebody in Chinese. They always feel very surprised when I can actually show that I can communicate OK in Chinese.

Like I said at the start, sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. But I feel like I'm becoming more and more... my feeling's becoming more and more stronger about wanting to get better and better at  Chinese, wanting to love it so then maybe one day in the future, I can say I am fluent in Chinese. Let's hope I can do it! I just hope I can.