Beyond Bounds Blog

And it should have taken fewer than 2.

This article probably should have been written 2 years ago, but I didn’t have any place to share it publicly and I wasn’t as clear as I am now that it is possible to learn language even faster and more comprehensively than I previously did. I’m finally ready to document one of the greatest accomplishments in my life, one that I’m asked about on a daily basis, and in my next article I will show you how you can do a lot better than I did.

This is my story:

Why Chinese:

Part of my decision to learn Chinese was undoubtedly due to the residual impact from my first girlfriend. She is half-Chinese, her mom is from Hong Kong, and we were together for a long time. She impacted my life in many positive ways and ever since I have taken a keen interest in the Orient, but I never ran with it until College.

I fell in love with Zhang Zi-Yi in high school. Her character in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon enchanted me to the point that I watched the film over 10 times. Her struggle for freedom in a society that constantly pressured her to be something that she is not rang strong within me, and simply thinking of her courage and strength gave me motivation to make many tough decisions.

While the two Chinese women in my life were influential, it wasn’t enough. The decision to learn Chinese was made consciously during a transitional period of my life. At the time I had been learning Spanish simply because I didn’t want to let my 3 years in High School go to waste. I became disillusioned with the pursuit of riches that had fueled my decision to be an engineer and reconsidered my decision to learn Spanish, so I decided that I wanted to do the exact opposite of what I had been doing. I changed my major to music (later to international studies) and enrolled in a Chinese class.

Chinese to me represented the unknown, the mystical, and the unthinkable, not to mention the possibility of meeting Zhang Zi-Yi. I was very confused with life and I thought that through learning Chinese and learning about China I could gain a new perspective that would lead to answers. I was right.

My First Year – San Diego

I will never forget my first day of Chinese class at UCSD. I strolled into a room full of Chinese-Americans and a quite intimidating Chinese man in his 40s – in a tie dye shirt. Not only did I stick out like a-white-guy-wearing-a-tie-dye-shirt-in-a-room-full-of-Chinese-people, but I also sat right in front of the class. Talk about cultural differences. In Chinese they say, “the tallest blade of grass gets cut” and “the tallest tree gets the most wind,” while in English we figure that the tallest tree gets the most sunlight. I was definitely bright.

It was in the first week of Chinese class that I decided that I would study abroad in China. I already had made the decision to learn Chinese and make a radical change in my life, so I figured that going to China would be exactly what I needed.

My interest in China and the decision to study abroad gave me superhuman motivation to learn the language. Class wasn’t stressful for me like it was for other people. I had a purpose, and everyday felt like I was taking another step into a new and better life. Every new character and phrase was exciting. Chinese ran through my head all day, similar actually to blogging for me right now. While walking to class, showering, running, or during any other moment in my life that didn’t require mental concentration I was reciting phrases and practicing my tones. While waiting for class or for my girlfriend to get out of class I would practice writing characters.

Nearly the entire first quarter of my class was designated to pronunciation. I must say that I was lucky to have a great teacher that understood the importance of pronunciation. Without correct pronunciation, grasping the flow of a language is near impossible as the words won’t roll out of your mouth the smooth way that they are meant to. People often put too little importance on this. Don’t listen to them.

I injected Chinese into my life in every way that I could think of, and not only in language. When I did pushups and sit-ups, I counted in Chinese. I started watching more Chinese language films and even signed up for a class on Chinese film. I enrolled in Chinese history, Chinese politics, and Chinese society classes. I went to more Chinese restaurants. I even sang a Chinese duet with a friend at a Chinese New Year celebration. It seemed that my life revolved around Chinese.

None of this affected my other classes, nor did I stop doing the things I enjoyed before, like playing video games, sports, or hanging out with my friends. Had it affected my life in anyway I don’t think I would have been able to keep motivated, as it would eventually get to me. Instead, learning Chinese felt very natural as I fit it perfectly into my spare time. Chinese added to my life rather than taking time away from my life.

Learning Chinese brought me closer in my relationships. One of my best friends is Chinese and happened to be also learning the language at the same time, and my girlfriend at the time was half-Chinese. My girlfriend couldn’t speak a word of Chinese, but her mother loved me. Talk about passing the motivation test.

I passed my classes with A, A, and A+ - my only A+ in college; motivation does a lot for you. I was accepted to the study abroad program and soon was off.

My Second Year – Beijing

When I set foot in Beijing I felt almost at home. There were people everywhere walking and riding bikes. I never owned a car in the US, so it was a good feeling seeing so many people outside. Since I had never been to a city this large other than a couple trips to San Francisco, it was a big change, and yet I didn’t feel out of place at all. Perhaps my excitement masked any possible discomforts, either way it was a good sign.

My fellow study abroaders were quick to nickname me “La La” which means spicy in Chinese. This was because of my determination to learn the language and dive into the culture.

I made a pact with myself to avoid speaking English and eating western food at all costs. I never joined the other students at McDonalds, and when we had conversations I always initiated with Chinese. I spent my meal times in the school cafeteria with locals or wandering about the city. This was too much for most people, so they branded me instead of learning from me.

They should have learned from me, because my language level jumped quickly. At the end of the summer I was already able to hold basic conversations with only a little trouble, while the rest were still stuck at basic introductions and body language for communication.

This was due to more than just meal time conversations: I was quick to root myself in the city and culture. The best way to learn a language is to constantly be around people who speak the language, and the best way to do that is to find a girlfriend. I found a girlfriend within the first two months abroad and spent nearly everyday with her for hours on end. This kept up my motivation, besides being in a situation that I was forced to learn, as I was much happier with a girlfriend than those who were still having trouble adjusting to the culture.

I carried a dictionary and a pocketbook with me wherever I went. If I saw a word multiple times, I would write it down and look it up. This way I was constantly learning words that were useful for my everyday life, rather than just focusing on pre-determined vocabulary that our teachers gave us. I would review this list multiple times a day and often have it out during conversations.

I discovered Chinese pod and listened to it on my way to class everyday. There are hundreds, if not thousands now, of lessons that you can download onto your MP3 player and listen to while in transit.

For half of my time in China I wasn’t enrolled in Chinese classes, and when I was I never went. I would sleep through classes that I actually went to, as we would spend sometimes a whole week learning terms that had nothing to do with my life and thus I wouldn’t remember: you don’t remember what you don’t use right away. I remember one week we learned construction terminology; unless some of the other students got an internship in construction that week, I don’t think any of them remembered those lessons either, or they spent a lot of time (inefficiently) forcing the information into their brains. The classroom environment is useful in the very beginning when you are still learning the basics of the language and need a teacher to help you get started, but the rest can and should be done outside of the classroom.

Instead I spent my time doing things that I liked to do. I spent countless hours in internet cafes, and probably learned most of my Chinese there. I played games in Chinese and made friends with other frequenters to the cafes. I played basketball and soccer and made friends there as well. I joined my schools video game team and even played a game on live internet TV. I watched Chinese TV shows and movies. And of course I dated my fair share.

Chinese for me wasn’t a subject away from everything else, but instead was imbedded in everything. My memories of learning Chinese don’t include countless hours memorizing texts, but instead are filled with stories and new experiences that would continue to be more fulfilling the more I learned. It was a tool for life, not just a check on my academic resume.

By the end of the year I was fluent. I was doing translation work: my neighbor was a film director and I helped subtitle his films. I even translated the constitution for a local NGO. I could go weeks without speaking English and never noticing, and I even dreamed in Chinese. I watched Chinese TV shows and movies without English subtitles.

I went home confident in my Chinese ability and my life has never been the same.

Where I went wrong:

I could have done all of this in much less time and acquiring an even higher level of comprehension.

1) I wasted 9 months learning in America: If I had the chance to do this over again, I would have spent only 3 months learning basic grammar and pronunciation in school and then went directly to China. If you don’t use a skill right after you learn it you will probably have to re-learn it again later, not to mention that my listening and speaking ability was 9 months behind my writing ability, as classroom oral practice in no way can make up for real life experience. When I got to China I couldn’t understand when somebody told me their name.

2) I didn’t fully utilize the other 3 months in America: I didn’t own a dictionary and didn’t expand my learning enough beyond the classroom and homework. I didn’t find other learning resources and didn’t join the local Chinese clubs. If you want to learn a language you have to go beyond the classroom, even back at home.

3) I didn’t set up systems to maximize efficiency: The extent of my systems was to listen to random lessons and write random words down. Next time I learn a language I will have better systems set up to log my progress, organize my vocabulary words, and overall keep me progressing even during slumps in motivation.

4) I didn’t focus: I lost focus multiple times over the two year period. I even spent a month learning Japanese while in China, and another couple weeks back with Spanish and French. I didn’t have clear goals. I didn’t learn consciously but rather luckily stumbled upon a good method. Next time I will consciously learn and hold my focus.

5) I went to class: Next time I won’t waste my time with class at all. Even compulsory socialization isn’t a good reason to go. Past the basics, getting yourself into real life situations is the best way.

Not the end:

This wasn’t the end to my Chinese learning, but I could safely move my focus onto something else after this point and put Chinese on the backburner. This was good enough to get me started on reading industrial reports and working in a local Chinese company 100% in Chinese. I can read a novel with some work and can understand most of a news report on TV, although not all. I’m not a native level speaker, but for most people and most purposes this level is far more than enough.

Maybe on day I’ll write on “how I became a native-level Chinese speaker.” 