Challenge

So, just out of curiousity, how many of you have mastered a foreign language? No, I'm not talking about one of those European languages, like Spanish or French. No, I mean a Really Foreign Language, like, for instance, CHINESE. Now that's a foreign launguage for you! Last night Scott and I put our "Language Aid for Adoptive Travelers in China" cd into the computer. Each slide is designed to teach a couple of phrases on a certain topic. Sample sentences are as follows:

"Excuse me, please, where is there a taxi?"
"I've lost my room key."
"I'm very allergic to monosodium glutamate."
(Really, this is one of the sentences the program teaches us to say!)

The phrase is spelled out in Chinese characters, pinion (which is the Chinese language spelled out in the English alphabet), English, and in English phonetically. A Chinese speaking person says the phrase in English, then about four times in Chinese, getting faster each time.

Can I just tell you that this language is SO foreign to me that I can barely even make out what they are saying even with it spelled out phonetically in front of me? I begin to despair of ever reporting my lost room key to the front desk clerk at the White Swan hotel.

But in truth, reporting a lost room key in China does not really concern me. Nor does finding a taxi. There will be interpreters with us pretty much all of the time to help with these types of things. No, the Chinese phrases I want to learn have nothing to do with getting around Beijing or ordering correctly at a restaurant with live eels in a tank that one may choose from for the evening's entree.

The phrases I want to learn came toward the end of the launguage learning aid program. They are sentences like:

"Don't cry. Mom is here."
"Come, little darling."
"I love you."

I think these are the ones I'll work on.