1. Reading back on my first Learning Journal makes me realize how much progress I've made in learning Mandarin. Being in class often makes me doubt my progress, because I get nervous to speak and will often forget recent vocab or grammar patterns when I'm asked a question. But then when I sit down to do the homework, or record a presentation, the words flow much easier. I think the learning structure of this term really helped me. I liked how all the subjects were familiar and we already had the base vocabulary for them, but that this term was really about learning how to elaborate and talk freely. It was difficult, but I think this took my speaking abilities to a higher level. I notice the progress I've made especially when I talk to my mom. She lives far away from me and we only see eachother a few times a year, so everytime I go home and get to practice Mandarin with her, we are able to talk about so many more topics than the last time we had seen each other.
I really loved doing the midterm project as well— our group got really creative with the video and script, and it reminded me why I love learning languages so much.
2. A joyful Mandarin moment I experienced recently happened, strangely enough, in Guatemala. Because I was traveling there alone, I looked for friends everywhere I could. I found myself on a bus headed for a small town in the mountains, and so I started a conversation with the couple next to me. The wife was Chinese and the husband was white, but they both spoke with a perfect British accent. As we talked more, I learned that they had been living in China for the last six years and they could both speak fluent Chinese, to which I replied: “真的吗？？？” They were equally as surprised that I could speak Mandarin too, and for the rest of the bus ride we tried to talk in Mandarin! Because they were not native speakers, I felt more comfortable messing up in front of them, and they would give me really helpful corrections on how I phrased things. Very cool experience to be able to have a conversation in Mandarin in such an unexpected place!
3. My next goal in my Mandarin learning journey is to spend time in Taiwan! I'm hoping to find a summer job there next year so I can be immersed in the language and hopefully get much more conversational :)
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