It’s a woman sitting cross-legged. It can be anything you want it to be.
Don’t get me started. 
[quote]For example: In China, parents only want boys, and they will only have girls after a few boys. 先 means ‘first’ and 生 means ‘born’, so therefore 先生 is ‘first-born’, which is ‘male’. The character 男 is a 田 (field) and a 力 (power) because men work in the field. The character 女 is a vagina.
I wish I made those types of realizations early on (or if my teachers had taught this way), and I would be 100% fluent by this point.[/quote]
You mean you’re be able to recognize more characters (you think). That wouldn’t make you fluent in the spoken language. Wouldn’t even make you literate, if you didn’t have the language underneath to put the recognized characters together to make sensible language.
But anyway – as to the original question: was Mandarin worth it?
For living in Taiwan, yes. I can’t imagine not being able to read and write and understand and speak Chinese (and to some extent Taiwanese) and live in Taiwan. You’d just be floating around in your own little bubble. Might as well stay home.
But outside of Taiwan – I’ve been flown all over the world as an interpreter. I’ve made a great living as a translator over the years. I’ve greatly enjoyed teaching the language as well. Those are also all worthwhile things.
Socially – the sacrifice of time necessary (at least when I started in the 80s and moving into the 90s when I was expanding my vocabulary to become professionally fluent) was heavy. But I’m not sure that simply having had more free time in Taiwan would have improved the social situation that much (particularly with regard to the opposite sex). But then again you could argue that had my coin toss come up Japanese instead of Chinese, I wouldn’t have been in Taiwan in the first place and wouldn’t have been facing that particular situation. Hard to say. For those who started Chinese “early” (1980s or so) the situation was so different from what faces someone who wants to learn Chinese today that it’s almost not comparable IMO. These days, if you don’t learn Chinese, it’s really because you don’t want to, there are so many ways to do it available even without leaving your home country. “Back in the day” you had to do more to get exposure to the language in any form.
Don’t get me started.
[quote]For example: In China, parents only want boys, and they will only have girls after a few boys. 先 means ‘first’ and 生 means ‘born’, so therefore 先生 is ‘first-born’, which is ‘male’. The character 男 is a 田 (field) and a 力 (power) because men work in the field. The character 女 is a vagina.
I wish I made those types of realizations early on (or if my teachers had taught this way), and I would be 100% fluent by this point.[/quote]
You mean you’re be able to recognize more characters (you think). That wouldn’t make you fluent in the spoken language. Wouldn’t even make you literate, if you didn’t have the language underneath to put the recognized characters together to make sensible language.
[/quote]
Way to yet again be critical of other people’s experiences for absolutely no reason, whatsoever. You could have easily posted your narcissistic tirade about how professional and great of a translator you are without trying to diminish other people’s experiences in the process by harping on a minor semantic technicality while not reading the full context of the statement.
The point I was making is that if I didn’t have to spend so much time memorizing and could just learn the logic behind it, I would have progressed much faster in the beginning…but I don’t have a Ph.D. and didn’t commit 30 years of my life to learning Chinese so there’s no way I would have been able to come to this conclusion, so disregard anything that I say as some laughable farce from some ignorant moron. Congrats, you have a Ph.D., and you are amazing and the best white lady Chinese speaker the world has ever seen. 
Only the best lady speaker? How disappointing.
Nothing groundbreaking or out of the ordinary, I don’t think. But there’s one thing I particularly regret not having done early on, which is getting input from the radio.
Early on, I could understand so little of radio broadcasts that I didn’t even bother to try – I assumed it would be more frustrating and discouraging than useful. My listening comprehension, especially following speech at normal speed, remained the weakest aspect of my Chinese, and I was beginning to despair of ever being able to get it up to a decent level. It wasn’t until I’d been here for more than a decade that I decided to experiment with having the radio playing in the background while I did other things (preparing meals, cleaning, exercising, etc.), and not letting it bother me if most of it went over my head. I tuned into the news and discussion programs on BCC (中國廣播公司), and was delighted to discover how quickly it made a difference. The amount that I could follow increased in leaps and bounds, and it was a great source of vocabulary building, as well as being very helpful to understanding more about Taiwan. I took to having the radio on as much as I possibly could, including having a mini radio plugged into my ear when I went out hiking. It was so productive that I cursed myself for not having done it sooner. I would also combine it with my writing practice by sitting at my desk with the radio on and scribbling down sentences and phrases that I heard, writing them repeatedly when they were especially useful, and I found that to be a very productive exercise.
for me my yardstick was TV news. When I could finally understand all that was being said on TV news , I figured I got it going.
[quote=“mike029”]I think it’s quite arrogant to live somewhere and not at least attempt to speak the local language. Yes, English is great and we all love it, but it’s extremely arrogant to expect everyone else to speak our language.
[/quote]
I certainly don’t expect people to speak English to me. I’m not arrogant, but I’m also not on some hippie “immersion” trip. I don’t carry a backpack, nor do I wear flip-flops.
And I like it here, I really do.
People are morons everywhere. I don’t need to learn the local lingo to work that out. Russia, Spain, Mongolia, Taiwan, etc. are jam-packed with idiots. I don’t feel I will better myself by being able to speak rubbish with fools, respective of where I live. Anyway, “Taiwanese culture” is an oxymoron. Actually, “culture”, respective of which country you apply it to, is an oxmoron.
You have fun with your immersion into mediocrity. I don’t feel the need for it, thank you. I’m not particularly interested in chatting to Uncle Huang about his gammy leg when I buy a bottle of Scotch. I’m happy to point, and nodding politely, pay the bill. Nor do I give a shit about Auntie Lin’s miserable, ungrateful children. Just give me the fucking banana. I’d feel the same wherever I lived. 
[quote=“jimipresley”][quote=“mike029”]I think it’s quite arrogant to live somewhere and not at least attempt to speak the local language. Yes, English is great and we all love it, but it’s extremely arrogant to expect everyone else to speak our language.
[/quote]
I certainly don’t expect people to speak English to me. I’m not arrogant, but I’m also not on some hippie “immersion” trip. I don’t carry a backpack, nor do I wear flip-flops. I like it here, I really do.
People are morons everywhere. I don’t need to learn the local lingo to work that out. Russia, Spain, Mongolia, Taiwan, etc. are jam-packed with idiots. I don’t feel I will better myself by being able to speak rubbish with fools, respective of where I live. Anyway, “Taiwanese culture” is an oxymoron. Actually, “culture”,respective of which country you apply it to, is an oxmoron. You have fun with your immersion into mediocrity. I don’t feel the need for it, thank you. I’d feel the same wherever I lived. [/quote]
Methinks the jimi doth protest too muth. As an argument against learning a language the “people are idiots and I don’t want to talk to them” line doesn’t really carry much weight. Not that you aren’t right, you probably are. But you might as well take an oath of silence and be done with it.
[quote=“the bear”]
Methinks the jimi doth protest too muth. As an argument against learning a language the “people are idiots and I don’t want to talk to them” line doesn’t really carry much weight. Not that you aren’t right, you probably are. But you might as well take an oath of silence and be done with it.[/quote]
Aha! Herein lies the crux, Mr the bear! I’m not against learning new languages. I think it’s admirable for people to spend their leisure time on useless pursuits rather than doing something constructive like playing Halo or getting drunk. I really do. I have the utmost admiration for people (or “individuals”, to use American nomenclature) who further themselves as World Citizens. However, since I don’t NEED to, I’d prefer to stick a ball-point pen into my eye.
When we moved out I thought I’d quickly learn Chinese, I’m pretty good at languages and I’d already got the basics nailed down. But 5 years in and I’ve never taken any classes, and have lost interest in it as a language. I’ll try…
- SO didn’t want to speak Mandarin at home, even though I repeatedly tried to get her involved. Gave up when I also realised that I’d be the sole source of fluent English for our new-born.
- Although I’m happy enough here, there are aspects of Taiwan society that I dislike, and I don’t respect it as much as I should. That’s reduced my desire to get fluent. Can’t stand to listen to or watch the news, for example, it’s so … silly, no depth, grates on me.
- The day-to-day language used is superficial. Most people use the same phrases in the same situations over and over again: like it blows my mind that you never hear any alternatives to “jia you!”. Many people also like stating the blindlingly obvious, and I can’t get into conversations like:
“Careful, this is a busy road!”
“Oh yes, it’s a busy road. There are lots of cars.”
“That’s right. It’s a busy road with lots of cars.”
But I’m sure that with the right attitude and work ethic, studying Mandarin will bring rewards. Although it would take a brave soul to come on here and say:
“Well, I’ve speak a decade studying and learning, and you know what? All those hours, classes, characters - I don’t think it was worth it.”
Dunno, I kind of like the state-the-obvious dynamic. Takes the pressure off in social situations. No need to actually be up to date on sports to make small talk.
Aha! SPORTS! Another brilliant reason not to learn Chinese.
Listen to the commentators. Let me give an example. Some astute, profound translation from Northcoast Surfer, a while back:
[quote]
Chinese commentary:
- And here’s Tiger Woods. He really is a long ball hitter.
- Yes, he really hits the ball long and straight.
- Yes, really long and straight.
- I’ll bet he hits it long and straight this time, too.
- Yes, he probably will hit it long and straight this time, too.
- Wow! He really hit it long and straight!
- Yes, that was really long and straight!
- Nice ball.
- Yes, that was a nice ball.
- Nice, nice ball. 好球, 好球[/quote]
And some brilliance from Taffy:
I’m a fat, useless drunk, but I love sports. It’s far better that i don’t understand what those cretins are saying. It’s preferable as white noise.
[quote=“jimipresley”]
Right. When I watch football, I expect the following (I’m using Chelski vs Fulham as an example):
“Terry…Lampard…Anelka…fine tackle…um…was there contact?..corner…Lampard with the corner…tipped over the bar by Schwarzer…corner…behind by Cole…goal kick…short to Hangeland…Murphy…Dempsey…Davies…It’s in!”
All of this over a five minute period.
The Chinese equivalent over the same five minute period:
“Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah lah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah”
What the fuck are they saying?
Are they compelled by some weird corporate shite to say something every SECOND?
And don’t even get me started on snooker, table tennis and golf, where you, as commentator, are expected to STFU![/quote]
You lot carry on with your enjoyment of new and exotic “cultures” and languages. I don’t really need it. I’m not in a “bubble”. And certainly not in a babble.
You dont need mandarin to live and function well in Taiwan but it is certainly a very good advantage.
But its not easy and not worth the bother for some and thats ok.
If i lived in paris for ten years or so I think i would make an effort but obviously french not chinese. And of course if circumstances made it a bitch for me to learn ,and i really didnt need to , to get where i wanted to go and do what i wanted to do. Then well, its not really THAT important then is it?
[quote=“jimipresley”]Aha! SPORTS! Another brilliant reason not to learn Chinese.
Listen to the commentators. Let me give an example. Some astute, profound translation from Northcoast Surfer, a while back:
[quote]
Chinese commentary:
- And here’s Tiger Woods. He really is a long ball hitter.
- Yes, he really hits the ball long and straight.
- Yes, really long and straight.
- I’ll bet he hits it long and straight this time, too.
- Yes, he probably will hit it long and straight this time, too.
- Wow! He really hit it long and straight!
- Yes, that was really long and straight!
- Nice ball.
- Yes, that was a nice ball.
- Nice, nice ball. 好球, 好球[/quote]
And some brilliance from Taffy:
I’m a fat, useless drunk, but I love sports. It’s far better that I don’t understand what those cretins are saying. It’s preferable as white noise.
[quote=“jimipresley”]
Right. When I watch football, I expect the following (I’m using Chelski vs Fulham as an example):
“Terry…Lampard…Anelka…fine tackle…um…was there contact?..corner…Lampard with the corner…tipped over the bar by Schwarzer…corner…behind by Cole…goal kick…short to Hangeland…Murphy…Dempsey…Davies…It’s in!”
All of this over a five minute period.
The Chinese equivalent over the same five minute period:
“Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah lah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah”
What the fuck are they saying?
Are they compelled by some weird corporate shite to say something every SECOND?
And don’t even get me started on snooker, table tennis and golf, where you, as commentator, are expected to STFU![/quote][/quote]
I feel the exact same way about F1 except that I think the English commentators are idiots.
And there is Vettel in that unique car of his. Followed by Webber in a car as unique as Vettel’s. “They are both driving for Red Bull you retard.”
Is the DRS wing open? Yes,it’s open. You can see it on the back of the car. They are in the DRS zone. "Well if they weren’t in the DRS zone then why the fuck would they open the DRS wing? Do you realize we are also watching the race? You don’t have to say those three sentences 60 times in a race. We know where the DRS wing is and we know if they open it that they are in the DRS zone.
I would love to hear Chinese commentary on horse racing, but I haven’t yet. The first time I heard it in English I couldn’t figure out if it was a sporting event or commentary on a porn movie.
It amazes me how people are able to turn a thread about any subject into a tirade of idiocy, insults and general BS. This is the main reason I rarely frequent forums. Anyway, I speak, read and write Chinese, and don’t regret it, even though I’m going back home and not planning to ever live in a Chinese speaking country again. If you’re planning to live in Taiwan for a while, then speaking Chinese will make your life easier. I personally didn’t find that it helped with my social life, since there seems to be a connection between a woman’s ability to speak English and her willingness to date foreigners, as well as how difficult it is to make anything resembling a real friendnship (by Western standards) with a Taiwanese man. Speaking Chinese will not help you find non-English teaching work (as has been discussed in other threads), so I wouldn’t plan on moving here, becoming “fluent” in Chinese and then working your way up in a Taiwanese company. In fact, unless you’re especially ambitious, learning Chinese probably won’t have a really large impact on your life other than making mundane, daily-life tasks easier.
By the way, does the OP live in Taiwan now? Has he or she ever lived in Asia? If the answer to either question is no, then I’d say long before thinking about whether learning Chinese is worth it, the OP ought to think about whether living in Asia (with all of it’s disadvantages and frustrations) is worth it.
I can speak fairly well. I’m conversational. I can read and write at about 5th grade level. I only spent 3 months at NCKU and realised the expense vs what I was getting out of it wasn’t worth it (but that was after I’d already been here 6 years). Frankly, I’m regretful I didn’t just hit the Chinese at NCKU since my arrival for 3-4 years, but alas, I didn’t. I mostly studied by myself, and had the odd 1-1 tutor.
Was it worth it? Well, yes and no. It was worth it in that I can do anything by and for myself, I could write the immigration exam, I need to read and write in my son’s school communication book and talk to his non-English speaking teacher and I can speak to whomever I want (or don’t want - but at least I have the choice). It makes things at work easier.
On the other hand, it hasn’t allowed me to do something other than ESL. It hasn’t opened doors to new worlds as such (unless you count watching movies that don’t have English subtitles available).
I think it really depends on the person. I don’t think it’s especially necessary, but for me it is. I wouldn’t like to depend on someone else for the most mundane of things, but that’s maybe just me. 
Whatever. Learn it. Don’t learn it. Makes no difference to me how other people spend their time.
To my simple mind, someone who is vehemently defending his decision to NOT learn mandarin is the same person who keeps hearing a little voice compelling him/her to do so. He refuses and tirades against this little voice the only way he / she can. With the internet 
But the little voice is hard to shake.
Me thinks is ok to exorcise that demon by allowing oneself the freedom to NOT learn mandarin and to decree to oneself that right .
Say this mantra “it is OK” “it IS ok” “its fine” “im ok with it” “im fine”
And stop defending your position because no defense is actually needed.
Be at peace and vaya con dios zapata.
[quote=“tommy525”]You dont need Mandarin to live and function well in Taiwan but it is certainly a very good advantage.
But its not easy and not worth the bother for some and thats ok.
If i lived in paris for ten years or so I think I would make an effort but obviously french not chinese. And of course if circumstances made it a bitch for me to learn ,and i really didnt need to , to get where i wanted to go and do what i wanted to do. Then well, its not really THAT important then is it?[/quote]
The difference is that if you didn’t at least try to speak French in Paris you’d be despised for it. Here, most people don’t mind if you don’t speak Chinese. Quite a lot of people like to practise their English. I had a four year old poking me in the bum continually yesterday saying ‘Hello!’.
[quote=“E04teacherlin”]
I feel the exact same way about F1 except that I think the English commentators are idiots.
And there is Vettel in that unique car of his. Followed by Webber in a car as unique as Vettel’s. “They are both driving for Red Bull you retard.”
Is the DRS wing open? Yes,it’s open. You can see it on the back of the car. They are in the DRS zone. "Well if they weren’t in the DRS zone then why the fuck would they open the DRS wing? Do you realize we are also watching the race? You don’t have to say those three sentences 60 times in a race. We know where the DRS wing is and we know if they open it that they are in the DRS zone.
I would love to hear Chinese commentary on horse racing, but I haven’t yet. The first time I heard it in English I couldn’t figure out if it was a sporting event or commentary on a porn movie.[/quote]
:roflmao:
I think there are opportunities that open themselves if you speak Mandarin as opposed to if you do not. The problem is that the Mandarin speakers who have had opportunities based on their Mandarin had them, and the non-speakers would not have had them or likely even heard of them (especially if they came in a Mandarin form.)
I just can’t get my head around the idea that it’s better to live in a culture and not speak the language. Chinese is not that hard to learn if you don’t want to mess around with reading and writing (particularly writing). If you just want to be conversational, be able to take care of daily needs or whatever, it is not rocket science by any stretch, and much easier than French for a native English speaker. And after all, being non-Chinese in appearance (if you are) you pretty much always have the ability to “play dumb”. Even if you’re conversational, pulling out that wrong-toned “ting bu dong” at the right time will discourage pretty much anyone.
Of course, the larger question/issue is that Taiwan is not the whole of Mandarin speaking in the world. People who learn Mandarin in Taiwan may not stay there all their lives, and with more or less Mandarin ability, there are more opportunities in China or elsewhere. Especially if you have a qualification in a different area (not just language), your Mandarin doesn’t seem to have to be necessarily all that amazing to get some really good offers, based on the experiences of people I know.