by Jan Michael Yip

Created on: September 09, 2009

I have been trying to learn Mandarin my whole life and also I have been miserably failing. I remember cringing in fear when afternoon Chinese classes are about to begin back when I was in grade school. It was hard not to go into terrorized mode when you had no inkling as to how to go about surviving the whole afternoon. The primary source of fear would be an old, fierce and ointment reeked teacher who, we were told, came from the Mainland. Second, would be the fact that these lovely educators are licensed to do me bodily harm. Nothing serious though, just the usual ear twisting, wrist slapping and occasional verbal dress down that is so humiliating you wish you were down with chicken pox and not have to come in to school for weeks. Third, was that I don't understand a word the teacher is saying. The literature being taught was in Mandarin but since the Chinese in the Philippines are predominantly Fukien, then everything had to be translated into Fukien. Ha! As if an eight year old doesn't have enough problems with Science, Math, English, Filipino, Civics et. al. So each and every afternoon, I really felt like I was blind, but the strange thing was, I COULD see. Sure I was able to pick up a few words and phrases along the way as I dreadfully toiled the halls of our school but that's about it. I have a vocabulary of a four or six year old at best. In those days, the weather always seems to be gloomy and interestingly enough, the sun also seems to come out when classes are about to end. What a wonderful childhood I had.

About a month or two ago, I saw a segment on CNN about a Mandarin learning website. I got a few of the free classes that they offered and tried them out. I had fun repeating the phrases and trying to get the correct intonations. Too bad the internet was not around and I'm no longer a kid with a sponge for a brain to absorb and remember all the information but I am hell bent into learning as much as I can and this time, it's because I really like to and not because I need to. No time table here, folks. I don't care if I am able to speak and even write Mandarin next month or by the time I am about to croak.

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