Humbling moments through Chinese

So, I have been meeting with a tutor for about a month. . .  There are times when I really feel like I can see progress and then there are others when I KNOW that learning Zhongwen (Chinese) is one way I am going to learn humility. I had a realization the other day that part of the reason that I was frustrated with my progress is that I am behind Andy (he is a lesson or two ahead of me)! For those of you who know us well, this should not be too surprising because we can be highly competitive with one another (usually in a good way). Then today as Josh, Becca, and I walked home from the grocery store (walked not biked, because I am NOT ready for Becca to bike there), Josh corrected something that I said. I was trying to remember the word for "bookbag" and said the Chinese word I thought was correct. He immediately piped up, "No, Mom that's the word for panda bear." Of course, he was right. Wow, I'm getting lessons from our 5 year old! Incidentally, I take correction much better from Josh than Andy. ;-) There goes that competitive nature of mine again! Anyway, I asked our tutor today to be honest with me and tell me if he thought my pronunciation was getting ANY better. He paused (uh-oh), and told me that it was getting better each time. Hmm, I am not quite sure if I believe him! Apart from several sounds that my mouth is currently refusing to say, I think that I might be tone challenged. I'll say a word with what I think is the right tone and then someone corrects me. "No, that is 2nd tone." I often respond with, "I know, didn't I say it that way?" Even if I know the correct tone, my mouth is again refusing to cooperate. Maybe eventually, my brain and mouth will work together! Andy reminded me tonight that this a marathon not a sprint. Do you think we have games on the brain for any reason? :0)

 

This round goes to Zhongwen. I think that makes it Zhongwen 2 and Sarah 0.