Episode 1
Episode 2

Our recent trip to San Francisco actually centered around language. My husband was there taking classes at St. Giles (an arm of Cambridge) to receive a CELTA. With a CELTA he is qualified to teach English as a second language. For now, he will be using his training at his current job, but we do hope to use it in China some day!

On the way home from our month in San Francisco, he related some things that he had learned in his class about learning a second language.  Much of  the information we have heard,  about 2nd languages being difficult for  people over age 13 to learn, is wrong. It turns out that the key to learning is “listening” (in context).  If you think about how well most teens and adults listen, it makes sense that they are not learning as well as young children!   

This made a lot of sense to us, because that is what our adopted children have done. When we first received them, they all jabbered away in “baby Chinese.” After a while, they stopped talking all together and the first time this happened we were very nervous. Then after 9-12 months of near “language silence” they began to talk…and usually in full sentences! It was amazing for us to see and when Da heard about this in his class, it dawned on him that this is what happened in our own family.

So, with this in mind, we are planning on a lot more listening.  I will tell you more about our plans to incorporate more listening in upcoming posts!

Our family  has also been presented with another amazing opportunity that I will be posting about soon.  Keep your eyes and EARS open!

Note:  Chinese characters have always fascinated me.  There are sometimes many meanings in addition to the basic translation of the word.  Listen (聽)  has so much meaning that I am framing it and putting it above my desk as a reminder to “listen” to my children…with my ears, with my eyes, with undivided attention and with my heart! 

Here is the break down of the traditional character for listen (posted above):

The section on the left denotes the ear.

There are four sections on the right:

• the top one says you
• beneath that comes the eyes
• next is undivided attention
• at the bottom is heart

Wo pa lai bu ji Wo yao bao zhe ni
Zhi dao gan jue ni de zhou wen you le sui yue de hen ji
Zhi dao ken ding ni shi zhen de Zhi dao shi qu li qi
Wei le ni Wo yuan yi

Dong ye bu neng dong Ye yao kan zhe ni
Zhi dao gan jue ni de fa xian You le bai xue de hen ji
Zhi dao shi xian bian de mo hu Zhi dao bu neng hu xi
Rang wo men Xing ying bu li

Ru guo Quan shi jie wo ye ke yi fang qi
Zhi shao hai you ni Zhi deo wo qu zhen xi
Er ni zai zhe li Jiu shi sheng ming de qi ji
Ye xu Quan shi jie wo ye ke yi wang ji
Jiu shi bu yuan yi Shi qu ni de xiao xi
Ni zhang xin de zhi Wo zong ji de zai na li

Wo pa lai bu ji Wo yao bao zhe ni
Zhi dao gan jue ni de fa xian You le bai xue de hen ji
Zhi dao shi xian bian de mo hu Zhi dao bu neng hu xi
Rang wo men Xing ying bu li

Wo men hao bu rong yi Wo men shen bu you ji
Wo pa shi jian tai kuai Bu gou jiang ni kan zi xi
Wo pa shi jian tai man Ri ye dan xin shi qu ni
Hen bu de yi ye zhi jian bai tou Yong bu fen li
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m afraid there’s not enough time, I want to hold you
Until your wrinkles have traces of the years
Until I’m sure you’re real, until I lose my strength
For you, I’m willing

Even if I can’t move, I want to look at you
Until your hair has traces of white snow
Until my vision becomes blurred, until I can’t breathe
Let us be as inseparable as body and shadow

Supposing I could let go of the whole world
At least I still have you, deserving me to cherish you
And having you here is a miracle of life
Perhaps I could forget the whole world
I’m just not willing to lose your news
The mole in your palm, I always remember it’s there

I’m afraid there’s not enough time, I want to hold you
Until your hair has traces of white snow
Until my vision becomes blurred, until I can’t breathe
Let us be as inseparable as body and shadow

It’s not easy for us, our bodies are not free
I’m afraid time is too fast, I can’t see you clearly
I’m afraid time is too slow, I worry day and night that I’ll lose you
Wishing that we’ll grow old in one night, and never be apart

Today I posted a sign at the front door that reads:

Today is quite cold.
jīn tiān hǎo lěng。
今 天 好 冷。

(No, it is not cold outside, but I want to make sure I have the right character for hot, warm, etc. before I make additions to this sign!)

Another on the laundry room door reads:

The clothes have been washed.
yī fú xǐ hǎo le。
衣 服 洗 好 了。

And yet another on the kitchen door that reads:

我很好 wǒ hěn hǎo – I’m very well
我很忙 wǒ hěn máng – I’m very busy
我很累 wǒ hěn lèi – I’m very tired

你很热吗？nǐ hěn rè ma? – Are you very hot?
你很好吗？nǐ hěn hǎo ma? – Are you very well?
你很忙吗？nǐ hěn máng ma? – Are you very busy?
你很累吗？nǐ hěn lèi ma? – Are you very tired?

Learn Chinese Every Day

I love this blog, because for the first time, I have found a site that gives me the literal translation of each character!  Example:

Most learning sites will say that, “Ni Hao!” means “hello!”  Really, the literal translations is “you good!”  While I am attempting to learn the characters, I want to know what each specific character means, and this type of translation does not work well for that.

This is what I would see on Learn Chinese Every Day:

Ni (你) :  you

Hao (好): fine, good

This way of breaking down the sentences  helps you to learn both the individual characters and sentence structure.  The author of this site is on to something!

My favorite page at the moment though is the pinyin chart. We are currently working very hard to learn the pronunciation of pinyin. Although we are learning characters, pinyin is invaluable should you forget or not know a certain character.  The chart is interactive and teaches all of the sounds and combination of sounds in pinyin pronunciation!

Don’t forget another great resource for learning beginning pinyin can be found here.

1930

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