Update 5: The End is Nigh

THIS IS GOING TO BE A SUPER FAST POST LIKE SPEED OF LIGHT BECAUSE I HAVE A LOT OF HOMEWORK BUT I STILL WANTED TO WRITE THIS BUT I MIGHT PASS OUT BECAUSE OF ALL I HAVE TO DO THANKS

This weekend has been fairly busy - I was away for most of it kicking butt at Deutschfest (wir gewannen!). But I am back and better before because this is the final update before my TEDtalk ~reflection.

So this week, I decided to forgo writing sentences because I was working on my final product: a thank you card for my grandparents. Here is the card and envelope. It's a bit small, but the envelope says 爷爷奶奶 (yéyé nǎinai) - (paternal) grandfather and (paternal) grandmother. I mentioned in my first post, but the Chinese words for family members are very specific, so the words differentiate between paternal and maternal sides.

Anyway, here's the translation:

Thank you both. I really like everything you do, like cooking and cleaning. When you leave, my father and I will miss you. I will call and write emails. I love you.

So, after writing that translation, I realized how short that sounds. But while writing this, I was super stressed that I was going to mess up. I'm really happy with the final product - I think this is the neatest I've written any Chinese ever. Like ever. Some of it sounds really awkward because I'm not quite sure how to say exactly what I want...but I think I conveyed the right message. I'm nervous to show my grandparents, but I think they'll appreciate it :)

I said for my last post, I would tell you about the different dialects of Chinese, so here's the super quick condensed version:

• There are many, many dialects of Chinese
• "Dialects" isn't really an accurate term - many are not mutually intelligible and are more like independent languages by themselves
• Most dialects are classified into seven groups
• Within these groups, there are most likely smaller, regional dialects
• For example, my family speaks "Shanghainese", which isn't considered a major dialect, but it's very common in Shanghai
• If you're wondering, I can understand Shanghainese, but I can't really speak it
• Mandarin
• Spoken by ~71.5% of the pop
• Spoken in the north and southwest regions of China
• Wu
• Spoken by ~8.5% of the pop
• Spoken in the coastal area around Shanghai and Zhejiang
• Gan
• Spoken by ~2.4% of the pop
• Spoken around the Jiangxi province
• Xiang
• Spoken by ~4.8% of the pop
• Spoken around Hunan
• Hakka
• Spoken by ~3.7% of the pop
• Spoken in scattered areas from Sichuan to Taiwan
• Yue
• Spoken by ~5.0% of the pop
• Spoken around Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as Hong Kong & Taiwan
• Also known as Cantonese
• Min
• Spoken by ~4.1% of the pop
• Spoken in Fujian and coastal regions in the south
• Source

 If you'd like a more detailed explanation and comparisons, feel free to watch this video
Now I'm off to practice my TEDtalk and drown in my other homework.

- Jess