November 1st, 2011
I often hear the theory that immersion is the best way to learn a new language. While this theory sounds perfectly reasonable, I am starting to seriously doubt its validity. This part of China is unlike a lot of the rest of the world in that almost no one speaks any English. The English teachers usually have a decent command over the language. Surprisingly though, many of the English teachers cannot hold conversations longer than "How are you doing today?" "I'm fine thanks, and you?" I actually often find that the students have better English than the teachers. Other than students and teachers though, no one speaks any English at all. Don't get me wrong; I am not complaining about this. I just want to make the point that I really am almost totally immersed (with the exception of the other volunteers). I spend an average of four hours a day in my school office, which I share with 15 other teachers who are constantly babbling in Chinese. Despite this, I have barely managed to pick up any conversational Chinese. The one thing I am getting pretty good at is ordering food. Really, I can do that like a pro. I am also pretty efficient when it comes to counting. If you ever need someone to count in Chinese, I'm your girl. Granted, I have only been here for two weeks, and I cannot expect to pick up the entire Chinese language instinctively. My problem is that I think that I was really expecting discover that I have a super human ability to understand everything that I hear in any language. As it turns out, my mental capabilities fall short of super-human. Looks like I'll actually have to work to learn Chinese!
I often hear the theory that immersion is the best way to learn a new language. While this theory sounds perfectly reasonable, I am starting to seriously doubt its validity. This part of China is unlike a lot of the rest of the world in that almost no one speaks any English. The English teachers usually have a decent command over the language. Surprisingly though, many of the English teachers cannot hold conversations longer than "How are you doing today?" "I'm fine thanks, and you?" I actually often find that the students have better English than the teachers. Other than students and teachers though, no one speaks any English at all. Don't get me wrong; I am not complaining about this. I just want to make the point that I really am almost totally immersed (with the exception of the other volunteers). I spend an average of four hours a day in my school office, which I share with 15 other teachers who are constantly babbling in Chinese. Despite this, I have barely managed to pick up any conversational Chinese. The one thing I am getting pretty good at is ordering food. Really, I can do that like a pro. I am also pretty efficient when it comes to counting. If you ever need someone to count in Chinese, I'm your girl. Granted, I have only been here for two weeks, and I cannot expect to pick up the entire Chinese language instinctively. My problem is that I think that I was really expecting discover that I have a super human ability to understand everything that I hear in any language. As it turns out, my mental capabilities fall short of super-human. Looks like I'll actually have to work to learn Chinese!
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