Sometime ago, I had this sudden desire to learn Chinese after a friend at work mentioned it casually. I signed up for an online course to check out how tough it would be to learn a foreign language (I used Rosetta Stone and I highly recommend it, especially for beginners). It was TOUGH to say the least, but I started enjoying it as the lessons progressed. The language is so different and the intonations so intricate that I felt completely exhausted after I finished the first unit. I gave up. But then, when I logged in again after a week, I was surprised that I did retain the basics and the second unit seemed a little easy and the language a teeny weeny bit familiar.
I spent learning a few hours every week for about 3 months and today, I completed 2 levels of the speaking and listening course. At this point, I have a choice of going to level 3 or practicing what I learnt until now. I choose to practice but the problem is, practice with who? Without active conversation in Chinese, I will forget everything I learnt in one month flat.
What started as fun has really caught my interest now and I am now going to go hunting for someone who speaks Chinese Mandarin and can help me practice my newly acquired language skills a bit. If you know me personally, and if for some reason, I do not know that you can speak Chinese, can you please shoot me an email.