When I was very young, I was exposed to and grew to love the works of the classical composers. Later, when I was older this love branched over into a love for Opera. The more I attended and listened, the more I wanted to understand the languages. Most of which, but not all, were written and sung in Italian or French. I began to learn each, independently, of course. I first tried to learn both and ended up mixing them together into a Salian-Roman mess, so I put French aside and concentrated on "parla italiano". The plus side to Italian was I could go back and watch all of the Godfather series movies and really understand what they were saying. It was simple enough, most of the European languages all have similarities to English. Like German, learn the syntax, learn the rules and then build your vocabulary. I was more interested in learning to understand Italian more than read or write, because I really wanted to enjoy an Italian opera without reading the subtitles.
After I felt sufficient enough in Italian, I began to focus on French. Now. This is a most peculiar language. When you learn it you get a feeling that, whomever developed it became bored or lazy and never finished it.
My example is with French numbers.
Most languages use the numbers zero through nine as the basis for all other numbers from there on. In English, four is used for the numbers forty, four hundred, four thousand, etc. But not French. They have the base numbers, but when one counts above sixty, they don't use the bases. They combine numbers! What we know as "seventy" is literally, "sixty-ten" or soixante-dix! Eighty is "four-twenty" quatre-vingts! Ninety is "four-twenty-ten" quatre-vingt-dix! It is really confusing at first and I never found anyone to answer as to why is was this way. Perhaps it is the French, just being, French! I don't know.
I had a science teacher that used to curse the way the French always "Did things the hard way" He'd say, "Why the Hell, would you take the letters, E-A-U and X and pronounce it 'O'?", shaking his head in disbelief.
I actually enjoy French, and even though I have no one to practice with, I still try to practice when I'm in the car or alone. It is a romantic language, as is Italian and both have increased my love for the opera considerably. Unfortunately, when I attend, I find myself reading the subtitles to see if they write what is really being said and being amused when they leave out something meaningful.
In 2009, my employer at the time, was sending us to various parts of the world to upgrade the remote branch's computer servers. In a drawing, for which one of us would spend three weeks in Australia, I won second prize. I would visiting the branches in Hong Kong and Singapore.
I knew nothing about either. I knew where Hong Kong was on a map, but nothing else. I knew the British had "owned" the island until returning it to China in 1999. I figured English would fine for my trip and off I went. I have written about my trip and I won't repeat any of the details here.
When I landed in Hong Kong, I was thirteen hours ahead of Central Time in the U.S. and I had just flown for 26 hours. I wasn't exactly what you would call, "with it", but the excitement of traveling abroad made me excited, none the less. Little did I know that the next three days would change my life forever. Seeing everything I had only seen in magazines or in National Geographic, up close and personal, definitely left it's mark on my heart. I learned my first Chinese words from the hotel night manager, Mr.Stone. I asked him how to say "Thank you". He replied, "Xiexie". I practiced it a couple of times and was set. I thanked everyone that I had dealings with and for some reason, bowed to everyone, slightly. I knew the Japanese bowed, but I didn't see anyone else doing it so it was more of a lowering of the head.
As soon as I got back to the U.S., I went and found a small phrasebook. I could not understand it and knew I would be doing myself wrong to learn Chinese incorrectly. I wanted more, but wasn't sure how or where to get it.
Months passed and I changed jobs a couple of times. Then, one day when I was searching for Chinese web sites to be able to listen and mimic, (something I do well), I found a site called ChinesePod. They were based out of Shanghai, China and they taught Mandarin with lessons from "Newbie" to "Expert" levels. The part I liked the most was you could download the lessons and play them on your iPod! I could use the hour I spend driving to work to learn basic spoken Chinese! I listened for two hours or so everyday and not only learned what the spoken words were, but the meanings behind the associated characters. (I couldn't read the characters in the car, I was driving).
I know that I have a couple of years to become proficient and although I have come a long way from "Xiexie" to what I know today, I still felt I needed a real "Laoshi" Teacher. One I could sit with and listen, learn the characters and above all, watch their mouth as they said the characters.
I found a wonderful teacher, locally. She is very thorough and knows of my want to learn the language, not just a few key phrases for travel. I have started back at the beginning with the basics.
I'm not going to go into detail on the complexities of the language, although I will point out that Chinese is a very practical and efficient language. Yes, learning Chinese is difficult, but it is a lot of fun too. I continue today to spend as much time as I dare allow, listening, speaking, making sometimes very embarrassing mistakes and, above all, learning.
I encourage each one of you to learn a language, it opens doors into other peoples and cultures. It is believed that a possible prevention for Alzheimer's is stimulation of the brain as we age. Language learning is just this kind of stimulation.
One last thing I have learned through learning the various languages. If you think learning them is hard, try learning English, especially, American English. It has become a mixture of all the other languages through our vast variety of cultures all living together, in our "melting pot" of what makes America, "America".
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