On the Subject of Language

One common thing I see with many expats who are unhappy here is that they can't speak the local language well, and often they can't speak it at all. Upon arriving in Taipei, my Chinese was minuscule at best. I had taken Mandarin for a few months in Toronto, but that was four years ago and we didn't really get that far in the classes. Although I've managed to adjust and have learned to communicate very effectively with grunts and hand-gestures, I realize that long-term success here means that I need to learn the local language and, even if I don't become completely fluent, I need to be able to express myself and understand others at more than just a very basic level.

So for the past couple months, I've been studying Chinese. Instead of taking a class, I've opted for a private teacher in 1-on-1 lessons. This has worked out very well for me, because she can tweak the pacing of the lessons to go as fast or as slow as possible. She says I'm going very fast - in fact she says she talks about me to all her friends; she says how she has this new student who is learning so quickly and making such great progress. She also told me that my test scores (after every chapter we have to take a test) are highest amongst all her students.

While I'm happy to receive such praise, and I'm happy to be moving quickly (I'm almost halfway through the first textbook now, and hope to have it completely finished within the next fourteen or fifteen weeks), and I can see measurable progress whenever I talk to the locals here, I have to remember that I'm still a very beginner level and that only through regular habitual study can I continue to learn quickly.

So many times, I've met people who have lived or are living abroad, who say they regret that they never studied or didn't study as hard as they should have. But never once have I met someone who studied hard and said they regretted it later. 所以，現在我學中文。

PSもちろん、最近あまり日本語を話せない。「日本語を忘れてる？」と思ってる。ちょっと心配してるね！