‘There was a time I dreaded Mother Tongue classes, today I do live translations’
28 Jun 2024
Growing up, lecturer Ian Tan couldn’t wait for Chinese lessons to end, yet in his middle age, he finds himself learning and using Mandarin every day. Why and how did he make the switch?
One of the happiest days of my schooling life was when I completed my AO-Level Chinese exam in 1993.
It was an arduous 12-year wait — starting from Primary 1 — to my last Chinese exam in school.
I really loathed learning the language. My family did not speak Mandarin at home and I read only English books.
Three decades later, my friends are constantly stunned to find out that I have fallen in love with the language and study it daily.
“What happened to you, Ian?” they ask in mock horror.
This is how my 180-degree turn happened.
China Blues
In 2003, 10 years after my last Chinese exam, I found myself in Shanghai on assignment as a rookie journalist.
My first attempt to buy food on Chinese soil was a disaster. I walked into McDonald’s thinking it would be easy to order a burger, but the menu was entirely in Chinese and I could not read most of the words. I had to timidly point at the menu pictures while ordering.
The rest of the trip was equally miserable as I had to conduct interviews with locals with my broken Chinese. It was so embarrassing and I earned my Badge of Shame.
A seed of desire to improve my Mandarin was planted in my heart, but it only started growing around 2016. At that time, I was working in tech company Razer and had to interact with my colleagues from Shanghai.
Again, Mandarin words awkwardly stumbled out of my mouth and my colleagues waited patiently for me to finish my sentences.
I decided enough was enough. It was time to work on my Mandarin proficiency.
Learning how to learn
The most difficult thing about learning a language again is figuring out the right way of doing it.
Think about it – how could I possibly know what was the right learning method for Mandarin since I was poor at it my whole life? I knew I had to improve my Chinese vocabulary, but didn’t know how many words I needed in order to be proficient in the language: 500? 1,000? 10,000?
I found the answer in the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), which is China’s standardised examination for non-native speakers. There are six levels in the HSK and, at its highest level, you need to learn 5,000 important words.
I have learnt about 2,500 words after four years and will need several more years to complete the entire syllabus.
But improving my vocabulary was not enough. I needed to speak and write better, so I signed up for a Business Chinese course at Nanyang Technological University in 2021.
Finding deeper meaning
That class was the best thing that ever happened to me on my language journey because I had a great teacher, Mr Shi.
The China native inspired me because he taught me how to learn the language in simple, yet profound, ways.
His first lesson had no Business Chinese content at all. Instead, he asked all of us to research the history of the words that formed our Chinese names and share it with the class. This opened my mind to the deeper meaning behind individual words. My Chinese name is 陈永和. Studying the word 和 (“peace”) deeply, and learning that it combines “grain” 禾 and “mouth” 口, led me to realise it could mean
“if you feed the people well, there will be peace”.
This insight enriched my appreciation for the wisdom in Chinese characters and the cultural values they represent, deepening my connection to my heritage.
Mr Shi also impressed upon me that I had to keep making sentences with every new word I learnt. This would increase the frequency of usage and deposit the word into my long-term memory.
However, the most important lesson he imparted to me was to just keep trying daily and not give up.
Learning led to loving
I have developed a routine to keep practising the Chinese language in multiple ways.
I wake up and do my daily Bible study in Chinese. I memorise a verse a day, both to build up my faith and my Chinese vocabulary.
When I take public transport, I read a Chinese book on my phone. When I am jogging, I listen to self-improvement podcasts in Mandarin. When I speak to my family, I remind myself to speak in Mandarin.
Once a month at church, my pastor preaches in Mandarin and I do a live English translation next to him. This has also trained my ability to listen to Chinese speeches.
The more I learnt and practised the language, the more I fell in love with it.
For example, I discovered that my Chinese handwriting had incorrect strokes and stroke sequences. So, I rebooted my handwriting by learning pen calligraphy from books I bought online.
To be honest, as a parent, I have not succeeded in getting my children to be enthusiastic about Chinese. Thanks to my wife’s coaching, they achieved better grades than I did but they don’t love the language nor use it in daily conversations.
I have been using Mandarin and sharing my own Chinese learnings with them in the hope that they will catch my fervour.
And these days, when our family goes out for lunch at Chinese eateries, I always order food using Mandarin.
Goodbye to my Badge of Shame! For sure, I would have no problems ordering McDonald’s in China now.
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