The Chinese language isn't one of my favourite subjects to talk about, but I guess at some point you just have to face it, after all it's what got me here in Beijing. Having parents of Chinese descent, not to mention business-minded that they are, my parents thought their children should know how to speak this language despite not using the language themselves, not that they can't, but there are hundreds or even thousands of other dialects in China, and most overseas-Chinese especially the ones living in Southern countries in Asia like Indonesia and the Philippines, speak the Min-Nang dialect and not the national language, Mandarin (PuTongHua). Where am I getting at? Nowhere and I'm not trying to, just wanted to share my experience, that's all. So! Having Chinese blood but born and raised in another country, my parents I guess felt obligated to pass down culture and language to the young ones. My brothers and I attended a Chinese Christian School my mom used to attend when she was little. Mornings consisted of learning English, which is the Philippines’ second (not first!) language, and afternoons are for Chinese lessons.
At home we spoke Tagalog, heard Min-Nang dialect converse between my parents, some English on tv that at that time I didn't understand but didn't seem to matter because kids who watch cartoons don't actually listen, we take notice of the colours and actions and can actually tell what is going on in the story, watched Cantonese martial arts movies, and saw my dad watching some Chinese Mandarin, take note, I saw my dad, not the show, and nor did any of us had any interest in trying to watch it with him. This was a time when I couldn't tell the difference between Min-Nang dialect, Mandarin Chinese, and Cantonese, and the only other countries I knew existed besides the Philippines was Japan (because of Disney Land) and America, heard it was far, and told my dad I wanted to go there someday. If I sound ignorant and immature, I will warn you that as this story goes on, it will only continue to sound that way, so first let me mention that I was at least 5 years of age, or at most 7 yrs. old, so forgive me if I sound annoying, because I was entitled to be.
Back to school, unlike in China, and I didn't even know this then, we were learning traditional Chinese, and not with Pinyin but with a whole different alphabetical system that is also used in Taiwan.
More on Chinese Lessons as a Kid
Classes mainly consisted of memorization. During class hours I remember repeating vocabulary words after the teacher, she would say, “blah blah” and the rest of the class repeated, “blah blah,” I had no idea what I was saying as long as it sounded similar to what the teacher was saying. There was a confusion going on that even I wasn’t aware until much later, I will explain this later. Aside from repeating after the teacher, I also remember her using her arms to draw imaginary strokes in the air to teach us how to write Chinese characters, and each stroke had a name I can't recall now.
The worst and most useless form of teaching was making us memorize some Chinese paragraphs. Then have us stand one at a time beside the teacher and recite it back to her. Forget about knowing what you are actually saying, the important thing is you remembered what you were supposed to say regardless of knowing the meaning and all. Well, I had bad memory even back then, add the nervousness of standing in front of your whole class, I was lucky if I even remembered a sentence to recite. What happened if you couldn't remember? You got whacked with a ruler, and not just any ruler, but the gigantic wooden types schools (in those days, in the Phil.) used to have to draw lines on the blackboard. Oh the piles of homework! From Chinese classes in the afternoon and English classes in the morning, kids had to carry strollers to carry their bags to and from school, and that was in kindergartens and elementary!
Years Later - After Isolating Myself From The Chinese Language
It was only a decade and a few more years later, when I was learning Mandarin Chinese in China, that I realized back then when I was trying to memorize words, no I should just call them“sounds," that we were actually learning two languages at the same time! No wonder it was so confusing! I don't remember having a discussion or the teacher explaining this, maybe they just assumed we knew. One of the things I remembered repeating after the teacher was, "ren xi lang," "ren" is in mandarin, meaning person, and “lang” is person in Min-Nang dialect! I didn't speak Min-Nang dialect, and not a word of Mandarin (or so I thought), so I didn't know which was which, and that the lesson was being explained in Min-Nang dialect, because “xi” is “is” in the dialect, so the teacher all along was saying, “person” is "person”!!!
All those Chinese lessons years ago did was convince me that I couldn't learn the language! I lost interest and motivation in learning Chinese. So how you might ask, did I end up in Beijing, learning Mandarin Chinese years later? How did I find my way back? Did an angel visit me in my dreams? Did my parents threaten or force me? Did I just suddenly wake up one day and just simply want to? Do you want to know?
Stay tuned for the next episode. Will rest now.
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