Since I recently began blogging here in Taiwan about my study abroad experience, I would like to dedicate this post to explain the who, what, when, where and why I began studying arguably the hardest language, Mandarin.
[ This picture was taken in Hanzhou, China when I did a winter-term in 2016]
See more pictures -->HERE<--
In 2014, I began studying Chinese in college but my passion and appreciation for different cultures and languages started at a young age. That’s because I grew up in a bi-cultural, bi-lingual home. My parents were immigrants from the Dominican Republic. My appreciation for other cultures and languages grew after I took two years of French in high school. Unfortunately, I did not retain much of my French, but it was at this point in time that I decided to make being tri-lingual one of my life goals. Originally, I wanted to continue with French but I've considered picking up Japanese, instead. For a short period in time, I even tried teaching myself Japanese from watching anime. Obviously, this is not the most effective way to study a new language. Chinese, however, was never in my plans to study. That changed when I began working in Rhode Island local politics.
In 2014, Rhode Island had a gubernatorial race and I worked as a Field Organizer for then candidate, Clay Pell, who is the grandson of the late Senator Claiborne Pell - who was also the sponsor of the Pell grant. Clay can fluently speak Arabic, Spanish, Chinese and English, of course. I worked in the campaign’s main headquarter, so Clay and I came across each other often. I was very impressed by his language skills and one day I searched on YouTube how to say a few basic Chinese questions like Hi, how are you? And how’s your day? just to ask to him whenever we crossed paths again.
The next time I saw Clay, I jokingly said to him that I became fluent in Mandarin, and asked him the two questions I worked so hard to remember. Maybe he was playing it nice and pretended to be impressed just to encourage me. He then shared with me his chinese learning experience and the advantages of learning it. “Give it a shot,” he said.
So that year, at the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), I took my first Chinese class to see if I’d enjoy it. I did. The class had about 10-12 students and only held once a week. Each week, we learned about 10-20 new words. By the end of the semester, we’ve covered only four chapters of the book we used in class. The following semester was exactly the same thing, except this time I had a different teacher. Both semesters, the teaching speed was very slow, and the class environment was very laid back. Every week, I would easily learn and memorize the small amount of new words we'd prepare for class. I began to think that I was a natural at learning Chinese…I would later find out that wasn’t the case at all.
After two easy semesters of slow, basic level Chinese at CCRI, I felt deeply committed to the language and ready for the next level. So after I graduated CCRI in the Spring of 2015, I transferred to the University of Rhode Island and joined the Chinese Flagship Program, an intensive-honors language program. Only 12 colleges/universities across the USA have this vigorous language program, so I felt honored when I was accepted in! The pace in the beginning was slow, so of course I still felt like the Chinese learning champ. Then one day I came across a different way of using the word jiu (fourth tone)（就). Instead of it meaning "at once" how I originally learned it, it was now used to express "to go with." This confused me for about two days! Not to mention the 40-60 new words we had to learn for each chapter all of a sudden. On top of that, we studied two-three chapters a week.
Although, four years later Chinese grammar and vocabulary still confuses me everyday, I have zero regrets in my choice to learn this amazing language. In 2016, I went to Main Land China to study abroad for about three weeks [will write a blog post about this experience later on]. And now, through four generous scholarships such as the Gilman, Beatrice S. Demers, Freeman-Asia and the Huayu, I received the opportunity to come study abroad in Taiwan for an academic year. Learning Chinese has given me personal fulfillment, taught me lessons in resilience, persistence, and diligence (those Chinese tests are no joke). Through Chinese, I also met long life friends, and created unforgettable memories and experiences!
When I think about it, I guess my only regret would be that I didn’t begin learning Chinese sooner!
Some pictures from China/Taiwan
