Update 4: Crawling...

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel...Right?
As I struggle to balance all my homework, this project is the thing that gets neglected. You know how you write a To-Do List, but then you usually leave one or two things unfinished? Yeah...this project is usually that last thing. I'm glad I made my calendar at the beginning of the project because, without it, I'd just be floating in space with no sense of responsibility for a due date. That being said, I may get a few extra days for this project because our snow days pushed things back a bit.

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2.5 inches of flashcards!

As usual, I've been continuing with the practice sheets and flashcards. Here's an updated picture of all my flashcards. I don't know how well you can see in the picture, but my stack totals 2.5 inches now! I've mentioned that I've written the German translations on my flashcards, and I realized that I could have a use for these outside my project. I'm going on my school's German exchange this summer, and my partner lived for a while in Hong Kong, so she learned Chinese as well! She mentioned that she's interested in relearning some of the language, so I could bring the flashcards to study with her :)

Below is my practice paragraph this week. I tried something new; I highlighted the new vocabulary I used in blue. I liked doing this to see how I was integrating previous knowledge with my new words.

Translation:

Today, I am excited. Today is Thursday. My friends are good people. There are people that dance. There are people that can sing songs. They are fifteen and sixteen years old. Such good students! Right now I know two hundred and fifty Chinese words.

As you might be able to tell, I chose to do a "journal" type entry for my paragraph this week. I talked about how I felt, as well as my friends. I wanted to talk about all of my friends' projects, but I don't know the vocabulary for that yet. I also mentioned my friends singing; that was in relation to the musical. (Kudos to all who participated - you were awesome!!) Again, the translation sounds awkward (as does the original) because I'm still limited in vocabulary.

Another practice sheets

I was also considering my overall progress in the project today. As some of you may know, Liliana (who's making balloon animals) basically sat in class and made balloon animals for everyone, and it was obvious how far she's come since the start. I think of other people's projects, such as Allison, whose paintings are gorgeous, and Hanna, who clearly displays so much passion for her project. I got a bit skeptical of myself because I felt my progress was much slower and less visible. I've reassured myself multiple times that Chinese is a complex, lifelong language, and there's only so much I can hope to learn in six weeks. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel a little left behind, as I'm crawling and other people are making bounds and leaps. In the end, I'm really excited to share the culmination (both my thank you card and my TEDtalk), so I try not to get too bogged down.

Why Would Chinese Ever be Easy?
I've mentioned a couple times before on this blog that Chinese would never be easy. Why would the language system be simple when it could be complicated? With things like stroke order and tones, it's easy to get confused. Well, just this one time (and one time only), Chinese is simple. Obviously, Chinese is written in characters. These characters can range from just one stroke, all the way to fourteen. But believe it or not, the writing system I'm learning is actually the simplified version of Chinese. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the Chinese government decided to simplify the writing system, in an effort to increase literacy. The simplified version is called..."simplified" (amazing) and the older version is called "traditional". Below is a comparison between a few simplified or traditional characters.

Traditional vs. Simplified characters

There are two changes between the traditional and simplified systems: some characters simply use less strokes (as seen above), and some characters have been combined to be written with just one. Although simplified Chinese has some obvious benefits, some people still prefer the traditional system. Traditional Chinese provides more distinction between different Chinese characters, and knowing the traditional system will allow you to read older writings. Different Chinese-speaking countries may use one system over the other, as you can see in the chart below (it also includes dialects, which will be coming up in next week's post)

My parents are from Shanghai, which is located on mainland China. For this reason, I'm most familiar with Mandarin (also Shanghainese) and the simplified system. Obviously, some characters would be easier to learn than others, but both systems still have their advantages. For foreign language learners, I would recommend learning whichever system applies to their region of interest. For example, if you're a student planning on doing an exchange trip in Hong Kong, it might be better to learn traditional. If you're like me, and your family lives in mainland China and you want to better prepare for a vacation there, you should probably learn simplified Chinese.

The End Is Nigh
With this blog post finished, there are only two more posts I need to do: a final update which will include info on dialects and a reflection after my TEDtalk. I'm excited to share my TEDtalk with the class because I feel very passionate about my topic. I'm so thankful that people have taken the time to read my posts and comment, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's projects as well!

Shout-out to Liliana, for blessing me with Grumpy. We're a happy family.

I'd like to present to you this week: big fluff and little fluff


- Jess

Resources

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