Nihao! That is hello in Mandarin. On Friday I began my Chinese tutoring lessons. I am being tutored by Linda Zheng with my new friend (they are all new friends), Pazit, from Israel. This language makes impressive use of vowels! Here is the basic structure of the Chinese language and why it is, indeed, a very difficult language to learn:
There are three parts of a word to learn - the initials, the finals, and the tone. There are 21 initials (think consonants). So far, so good. A few differences from the English sound for various letters, but easily learned. The finals - which are vowels and combinations of vowels - are where the Chinese language becomes challenging. There are 38 finals! 38!!!! Each with their own sound! Then to top it off, once you can pronounce the word, you must still use the correct tone, of which there are four. So the same combination of initials and finals can yield different results depending on whether you say it flat, rising, down then up, or aggressively. I would liken this to our syllable emphasis, except with more importance because the meaning of the word actually changes. Wish me luck!
Speaking of language, I would like to pass on this story about the English language. For some reason, the last few weeks/months before we left the US the kids had some fascination with referencing swear words. Not saying them, just referencing them. As in: the "h" word is bad to say; so is the "s" word, or the "b" word; and is there an "n" word? Max, with two older siblings, is of course party to these conversations well before his time. I have had the occasional moment of sheer frustration during these early days in Shanghai and have sprinkled the house with the random "s" word. One day, thinking I was alone, I let the "f" one slip. I turned to see Max standing nearby, eyes wide. He scurried off. As I came down the stairs I heard Max desperately trying to get Zach's attention as he whispered "Zach! Zach! I know what the "f" word is!" So, here's to learning a few more Chinese words!
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