Hello 2016



Some reading material I purchased last year

Happy New Year!

I hope everyones start to the new year has been good.  A new year almost always calls for new goals. Some of the things I've been thinking about are really about making life a little more simple and I want to continue with some of the goals I made last year, but I have one new one that is going to be a bit challenging (and possibly make things more complicated) ...

Start making this blog bilingual:  English/Chinese.

我在 2016 年希望能開始寫雙語的部落文章.

I don't intend for this blog to be 100% bilingual and I think some posts will just be too time consuming to write in both languages, but if one day down the road it is, it would be amazing!  I can definitely read more Chinese characters than I can write, my reading capability is probably that of a grade 1 student though, but I'd like to try.  The start might be popping in the Chinese character here and there, or writing a sentence or two. Like any language, if you don't use it, you lose it so by trying to post in English and Chinese, it'll definitely force me to use it.  I'd like to practice speaking more too but for now, the written language will have to do.


Why did I set this goal? 

Here are just a few reasons...

• In 2009 I spent one year in Taiwan studying Mandarin and feel it slowly slipping away...last year it was disheartening when at times I found myself not as competent as I should have been at various Mandarin speaking opportunities.
• I also would like my child to learn either Cantonese or Mandarin or both so I'm trying to get a head start....Sometimes I think there are are things I strive to improve in myself so my child could benefit or can take on those same good habits - does anyone feel the same way?
• Going back to Asia - travelling back to Taiwan or China with better language skills definitely will help with connecting with locals and make travelling just a wee bit easier. Tea is my drink of choice and a vacation to Taiwan most surely includes a visit to tea houses and gardens where English is not very common.

I'll be posting in traditional characters as that is what I'm most familiar with. For those of you that can read and write Chinese, please do comment if I'm using a term incorrectly or if I've totally made a mess!!...It'll definitely help my learning :) Thanks!

Wishing everyone a joyful and healthy 2016!