Even though studying Mandarin was hard, it was such a cool feeling to look at sentences and realize that I knew what they meant! I practiced all the time. Sometimes I even played out conversations using stuffed animals! I also practiced a few words at Chinese restaurants or at Asian grocery stores. I used Chinese learning apps and taught my friends some words.
Here are some of the words I learned. Notice the Chinese characters, followed by the pinyin and the English. On the pinyin, you will see accent marks. They tell you whether the tone should dip up or down or stay the same.
你好 (Nĭ hăo) Hello
我叫 (Wŏ jiào) My name is.....
我是学生。 (Wǒ shì xuéshēng.) I am a student.
朋友 (Péngyǒu) Friend
老师 (Lǎoshī) Teacher
谢谢 (Xièxiè) Thank you
Learning Chinese takes lots of practice, but it's worth it. While more and more people in China are learning English in school, there will always be something special about speaking to people in their native language. The process of learning builds understanding of different cultures and leads to a more connected world.
