Three years ago today…
…. my flight from London touched down in Beijing. It was my third trip to China, but the first two were strictly travel and exploration. This time I was here to stay.
I was totally unfazed by the thought of living and working in a completely different environment - just excited at the prospect. And I was right; China has always felt like home to me.
Looking back on those three years now, or more specifically at their beginning, I realise that I didn’t come here with a real game plan or any particular personal or professional goals. I see that as a costly mistake. With a clearer agenda and more foresight at the outset, some pitfalls could have been avoided and many positive gains in my personal development could have been made.
At the forefront of this self-criticism is my lack of effort in acquiring at least a conversational level of Chinese. Three years! What the hell was I thinking?
This diagram gives an indication of how many years of study it should take to achieve a given level of proficiency:
There are foreign teachers here at Jimei with less time in China than me whose Mandarin blows me away. I should be trading tones and tongue twisters with them. This is a serious regret, and one that I single out because there are no excuses to accompany it. It is particularly shameful in light of some of the advice I give to my students.
I must do better; I will do better!
Many people swear by the excellent http://chinesepod.com/ for their Mandarin lessons, although I get along better with http://www.melnyks.com/ .
So, my new three-year game plan is taking shape. Step one: fall asleep every night to the sound of a podcast in my ear (my other ear will be resting comfortably on the pillow). If I look like falling off the wagon, please remind me that my Chinese sucks.