Whilst I look to many things to help with learning such a complicated language and culture as Chinese, such as Pimsluer Technique, Chinese Pod, Byki, various books C.D's,Immersion the list goes on and on. I can easily say that the thing that has got me talking more and more to the people (and understanding more and more) is....."Having a dog".....
Where as before, going out was mostly a journey of stares and whispers of "waiguoren"（外国人）The only people out and around the streets that would usually talk to me were people wanting to try their English out. Now it is much more common to hear "ahhh xiao gou, hao keai (小狗好可爱）, which is then often accompanied by a host of questions...What's her name? How old is she? What type of dog is she?, What does she eat? Does she understand English or Chinese? Is she from China? Does she bite people?........This is then usually followed (once they know I understand them) with... Where are you from? Where do you work? How old are you? Where do you live? Do you have children? Do you have friends here? Do you like Chinese food? How long have you lived in China? and on and on...Last weekend on the ferry I even ended up in a discussion about the exchange rate of Australian dollars and Chinese rmb.
So it is easy to see that the absolute best Chinese learning tool that I have found is my dog
"Mo li hua" 茉莉花。
2 comments:
You have a beautiful dog. And yes they don't judge people but bring a special love with all pets to people. They are my special friends and I see they are yours too - Mo li hua is cute.
Hey Tony... Yeah, I think some people don't realise what they miss out on if they don't have dogs in their life. Moli is very precious. Funny thing Tony...Mo li Hua means Jasmine Flower in Chinese...If I remember correctly, thats your daughters name too? :-)
Post a Comment