Dreaming in Chinese (25 page)

All this makes for very slow progress, in a country where life moves very fast. In my real China life, every step I took was about getting things done and surviving the day: How do I buy tickets to Chengdu? Who is on the phone and what are they asking me? Which exit do I take? Tomorrow is a holiday? Is this chocolate or red-bean paste? Where is the vegetable market? Uh oh, this is the toilet? How much should I pay? Is this ice in my drink safe? How do I work the TV remote? The Internet is out; no taxi will stop here; the bank card isn’t working; this zipper needs repair; we are out of ibuprofen; I need a haircut; these plugs don’t fit; all the shoes in China are too small for me; there is no building at this address; but the sign says “open”; and well, the repair shop where I left my shoes was on this corner yesterday …

There are tried-and-true ways to learn another language—be young, stick with consistent classes, immerse yourself in the speaking situation. But life doesn’t always work out in one of these ways, so you have to ad lib. I can finally look back (and look ahead!) at the trial and error of my pursuit of Chinese to see what worked for me and what didn’t.

I learned to triage and lean toward my strengths. That means relying on my ears rather than my eyes. Most people will tell you they do better with either the visual or the oral parts of Chinese. For me, hearing the language and trying to speak it is much easier than seeing the characters and trying to recognize them, let alone write them. So I focus on what I can hear and say. My husband is just the opposite: he can recognize and remember the characters but has a much harder time hearing or saying differences in words. My theo-ry is that having one linguistic strength or the other is like being right-handed or left-handed—you’re just born that way. As pathetic as I feel about my shortcomings with characters, I do find some solace in the fact that keeping up with characters is a lifelong pursuit even for the Chinese. Several of my Chinese friends admitted that, if they let difficult characters go too long, they get rusty about remembering them.

I would have loved to start at the beginning of my Chinese study with a solid classroom program and go on systematically from there. But the logistics of our China life meant we were always on the move, traveling a lot, with no set schedule. Since it was hard to maintain regular school schedules, I mixed it up. At different times I studied in commercial schools, hired tutors, watched lots of TV, followed online courses and podcasts, listened to radio talk shows and Chinese songs, watched Chinese movies, killed time in lines or on the subway listening to other people’s conversations. Everything helps. The personal situations worked best; those Westerners with Chinese boyfriends or girlfriends learned the quickest. For the rest of us, we found language substitutes. Chinese love having “language partners” where you swap Chinese and English practice with a partner. I found a few matches that worked out well, when we could spend hours and hours chatting about this, that and everything. What we lacked in grammatical progress, we more than made up for in useful and funny conversation.

Whenever I could, I also listened to little children, with their deliberate pronunciation, simple words and context-heavy jabber. I wish I could turn back the clock to have a child’s pliable brain—easier to get those accents, and the enviably effortless-seeming acquisition. Alas. On the other hand, the news is not all bad. Being older and more linguistically experienced means you can intellectualize your way through some learning, like recognizing language structure or patterns (for example, if adjectives precede or follow the nouns they modify, or if verbs come before or after the object of a sentence), which make the learning process more efficient. And you can find great gratification, which I craved and desperately needed to survive China, when you say something simple like “
Shūdiàn zài nǎr
?
” “Where’s the bookstore?” and someone will answer—with misplaced and generous praise—“
Nǐ de Zhōngwén hěn hǎo
!” “Your Chinese is very good!”

For me, chipping away at the language not only made China more survivable, it also tipped the daily balance ever so slightly from my being an observer to being a participant in the fray and chaos of developing China. I can’t believe I am quoting Chairman Mao, but he actually said something very good that applies to me! “
Hǎohǎo xuéxí, tiāntiān xiàngshàng
.” This is literally “Good good study, day day up.” Or, more comprehensibly, “Study hard, and you will improve every day.” Practice makes perfect. These are words I live by in China.

I did inch away from being overwhelmed at such a massive, intense, overwhelming country, toward touching a few people one by one, and getting a little closer to their lives, however small the increment. This reward gave me at least the illusion that I belonged, if just for a little bit, in this extraordinary country at this moment in history.

Pronunciation guide

This is a rough guide to help you sound out the Chinese words. In many regions of China, there will be variations on these pronunciations.

ə is the sound of the “a” in the word “about,” or the “e” in “taken,” or the “i” in “pencil.” In phonetic terms, it is called schwa.

ō is the long “o” sound, like the “o” in “no” or “toe.”

zh sounds similar to the “j” sound in “edge,” but the tip of the tongue touches a little farther back on the roof of the mouth.

ao is the vowel sound in “now,” “how” and “Mao.”

ai is the vowel sound in “hi,” “my” and “eye.”

ü as a sound in English is closest to “u” in “unit” or “use.” It appears in German words, as in “
über
” or French as in “
sucre
.”

Chapter 1

wǒ ài nǐ = wō ai nee

Uighur = wee gər

Xīnjiāng = sheen jyahng

zuótiān = dzwō tyen

chànggē = chahng gə

zài = dzai

Chapter 2

bú yào = boo yao

zuótiān = dzwō tyen

jīntiān = jeen tyen

míngtiān = ming tyen

hòutiān = hō tyen

bú yòng = boo yōng

méi yǒu = may yō

bú shì = boo shər

bù kěyǐ = boo kə yee

xià chē = shyah chə

wèi = way

fúwùyuán = foo woo yü en

màn zǒu = mahn dzō

gěi wǒ yán = gay wō yen

qǐng = ching

xièxie = shyeh shyeh

zuò = dzwō

xiū = shyō

máfan = mah fahn

kàn = kahn

yi = yee

ma = mah

zǒu = dzō

wánr = wahr

Chapter 3

shī, shí, shǐ, shì = shər

nǐ = nee

hǎo = hao

ma = mah

kuài = kwai

chī = chə

fàn = fahn

mǐfàn = mee fahn

Pǔtōnghuà = poo tōng hwah

Hànyǔ = hahn yü

Zhōngwén = zhōng wen

xiàngshēng = shyahng shəng

sì = sə

bā = bah

fā cái = fah tsai

zhōng = zhōng

fú = foo

dào = dao

chéngyǔ = chung yü

shǒu zhū dài tù = shō zhoo dai too

xiàn xué xiàn mài = shyen shüeh shyen mai

xīn = sheen

xīnnián = sheen nyen

de = də

kāi = kai

Chapter 4

dǎbāo = dah bao

huānyíng guānglín = hwahn ying gwahng leen

qípáo = chee pao

yǒu = yō

hóng = hōng

yóuyǒng = yō yōng

jiǔ bā = jyō bah

Chapter 5

lǎobǎixìng = lao bai shing

tóngzhì = tōng zhə

tóngzhìmen = tōng zhə mən

Chóngqìng = chōng ching

Guǎngdōng = gwahng dōng

rénmínbì = rən meen bee

Chapter 6

Nǐ hǎo = nee hao

Wǒ jiào = wō jyao

Mínyì = meen yee

Fāng Fēi Jié = fahng fay jyeh

jiè bǐ = jyeh bee

Wáng Míng Yuán = wahng ming yü en

Wèixīng = way shing

Zhèn shēng = zhen shəng

Aoyùn = ao yün

Yǒnghóng = yōng hōng

Jiànguó = jyen gwō

Àipíng = ai ping

Jiànmín = jyen meen

Shèbǎo = shə bao

Mínyì = meen yee

Héxié = hə shyeh

Fènduī = fən dway

Guǎngzhōu = gwahng zhō

Shēnzhèn = shen zhen

Chén = chən

lǎoshī = lao shər

Huáng Hùshi = hwahng hoo shə

Lǐ Yīshēng = lee yee shəng

Zhāng Sījī = zhahng sə jee

Zhōu Shīfu = zhō shə foo

gēge = gə gə

mèimei = may may

ōu bā mǎ = ō bah mah

ào bā mǎ = ao bah mah

fēi ěr pǔ sī = fay ayr poo sə

bù shí = boo shər

lǐ gēn = lee gən (hard g as in reagan)

shā shì bǐ yà = shah shə bee yah

luò shān jī = lwō shahn jee

niǔ yuē = nyō yü eh

hǎo lái wù = hao lai woo

Shānxī = shahn shee

Chapter 7

dōngběi = dōng bay

xī běi = shee bay

dōngnán = dōng nahn

jiǎo = jyao

xià = shyah

shàng = shahng

lóu = lō

fēijī = fay jee

shān = shahn

Xiàmén = shyah mən

zhuōzi = zhwō dzə

shàng Xīngqī èr = shahng shing chee ahr

ge yuè = gə yü eh

cì = tsə

fēngshuǐ = fəng shway

Shěnyáng = shən yahng

Chéngdū = chung doo

Urumqi = oo ruhm chee

Hángzhōu = hahng zhō

Nánjīng = nahn jing

Kūnmíng = kuhn ming

Bówùguǎn zài nǎr = bō woo gwahn dzai nahr

xièxie = shyeh shyeh

Chapter 8