How I Learned to Read Chinese

Photo: Thomas Berg, Feature photo: Ivan Walsh

When you came to Hangzhou, China in Aug 2001 as the bard as well as to work upon Mandarin fluency you faced the great, embarrassing wall: you was illiterate.

Sure, you could verbalise as well as understand simple conversational Chinese, since Id studied while training English in China from 1999 to 2000. Then, as the beginner, speaking as well as listening in the tonal denunciation was so severe which you didnt wish to deal with the characters.

But in Hangzhou, my ignorance was the big deal. Even though you could discuss with locals, order food as well as ask directions, you was baffled by business cards, menus, as well as even store signs. you indispensable to review so you could build wording as well as indeed be fluent. But how?

I started with my aged standbys the tutor, taped dialogues, as well as cover for wording as well as added peep cards for Chinese characters. Yet the flip of those cards dejected my confidence, as well as left me with the headache from cramming 50 characters into my mind. After the couple of weeks, you abandoned my peep cards as well as my hopes for cracking the impression code.

One dusk in November, when you returned to my hotel, you beheld the Chinese cook crouched around the television at the behind of the front desk. At first, you sat down to use my spoken Chinese with this friendly guy. But this time, the cook hardly pronounced anything beyond Ni Hao, since he was engrossed in the TV. So you thought, okay, Ill watch too.

Hangzhou, Photo: webmasternic7918

It was the adore story, subtitled in Chinese characters like many programs in China. To my surprise, you accepted the lot, since they spoke colloquial, bland Chinese. While you couldnt keep up wi! th the s ubtitles, here as well as there, you would listen to the actors contend something, as well as connect the word with the character. And, as an incorrigible romantic, the story sucked me in, instantly.

That was it the spoonful of sugarine was only what you indispensable to swallow those Chinese characters.

After that, you joined the cook many evenings to sweeten my wording over the few good Chinese adore stories upon the tube. Still, in the beginning, it was some-more cloying than study. The subtitles churned by fast, so you only schooled the impression or two each week.

So, in Jan 2002, when you upgraded my pursuit to web bard for an internet company, you upgraded my guilty guidance pleasures with the DVD player as well as discs of Meteor Garden, Chinas hottest TV adore drama. Meteor Garden bending me with the 4 Taiwanese hunks as well as the romantic romantic tale. And when youre hooked, you unequivocally investigate the disproportion otherwise, how will you know since they pennyless up? Now you could postponement or rewind my approach to understanding, looking up disproportion as well as characters in my compendium or ask Chinese friends.

First came Meteor Garden, afterwards came the soundtrack. Sure, the strain was as estimable as burble tea. But you didnt care, since the home karaoke discs came with strain videos as well as subtitles so you could follow along. you remembered disproportion as well as characters even better, since they were sandwiched into the gooey melody. So, each time you told my friends buyao jianwai dont be the foreigner you heard the strain The First Time relate delightfully in my head.

As you started celebration of the mass more, you shortly detected the small wordplay in my hands texting in Chinese. you would use pinyin, the romanized chronicle of Chinese characters, to spell disproportion out. Sometimes you had to choose from the list of characters, which was challenging. But often, the mobile phones smart submit system would theory what you m! eant to write. Sending simple texts to my Chinese friends shortly became the sweet small each day routine.

Photo: John Dyhouse

By Spring 2002, you detected my sugared down investigate was paying off you could essentially review the small signs. The lavatory posters which review come in the hurry, leave with the flush, added the small communication to the mundane. A sagging, ancient store nearby the office was aptly declared Long Time Supermarket. And the characters painted next to the construction site pronounced Hangzhou is my home. Creating the indication city requires everyone, creation me feel the connection to my adopted city.

But, other times, you felt the disconnect when you review something wholly wrong easy to do when the disproportion in between characters could be one stroke. One night, while receiving the train home, you asked my friend June since this sign pronounced yaliao tooth materials. Thats yake, the dentist! he giggled.

After you moved to Shanghai in March 2003 to work as the copywriter, you still kept up with the TV dramas, karaoke discs as well as texting. But, since you had schooled so much already, you began cutting out the small sugar. you watched the news, as well as the TV remake of the Chinese well read classic, The Water Margin, upon DVD. In the office, you used the Chinese chronicle of Windows XP, as well as tried celebration of the mass office e-mails in Chinese.

But you still indispensable the small dessert each now as well as then, generally after celebration of the mass newspapers in Chinese. My first tries left the route of black outlines all over the paper from underlining unknown characters. Times like this called for the corrupted taste of adore dramas or Chinese pop strain or texting, only to palliate those headaches as well as get the shot of confidence.

Late in 2004, my Chinese coworkers forwarded an e-mail in Chinese,! warning about the presumably carcinogenic cosmetic. you could review it, as well as it wasnt true. So you wrote behind in Chinese, with the link: This is the fallacy. You can see for yourself online.

That afternoon, one of my Chinese coworkers stopped me. Did you unequivocally write which reply?

I told her yes, as well as afterwards her eyes widened. We were shocked when you saw it was you. We suspicion the Chinese wrote it.

There was no sugarine in which e-mail, or even in my coworkers words. But suddenly, you felt the high.

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