As I continued learning the language, I focused hard core on learning as many characters as I could, meticulously focusing on writing them, filling notebooks with hundreds of characters. My professor warned me early on that I was on the track to becoming mute: someone who could read and write but not speak. He was right. I was less interested in speaking; I had difficulty hearing the tones and translating to respond quick enough. Granted, our language lab classes were based on rote repetitions and memorizing silly dialogues. I could write an essay no problem, but ask me to come up with the essay on the fly and I was lost. Grammar was easy enough (there basically isn't much) but the memorization of the pronunciation got me cold. pinyin is based on 21 possible starting letters, and 39 possible endings, making some 411 possible pronunciations of words in the entire language. Add to that the four tones, with some words having the same exact tone and pronunciation, and you've just gotta know by context which one is right. The possibilities become almost endless, in my opinion.
Needless to say, I have the utmost respect for people who have a grasp of the spoken Chinese language. It is no easy feat to become fluent. I spent 4 years studying in college, and one summer semester in Beijing, but it is merely a drop in the bucket on the path to becoming fluent. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, I hadn't studied Chinese in 2 years, and the amount of mental bulimia was huge. My character knowledge had gone out the window and goodness my tones were as awful as they ever were. But, within a few months on board, I was on a plane back to China to live and work in a city that had little to no English. Brushing off those textbooks and starting to get back into the study mode, I was prepared to a bite of humble pie while my language got back to a point where I could communicate and get around.
Thankfully, my knowledge of Chinese characters helped me greatly in feeling comfortable getting around town. I could read general ingredients in menus, I could recognize street signs, I could feel comfortable shopping. I took this picture at an common intersection in downtown:
There's no English here. But I know what all the signs say for the most part, there's a grocery store, a motel, a hospital that specializes in... ahem... colonoscopies, etc. I can read the street signs, and generally have an easy time figuring things out if I don't know how to say them. I'm okay with instructing directions, ordering food, daily basic conversation. My listening comprehension has gotten worlds better since moving here full time. But ask me to talk about migrant worker issues or nuclear non-proliferation and you're not getting a word from me.
On a different note, one of the things I notice immediately when I fly back home to the US is that I can read, hear, speak almost anything, and comprehend completely. It's a great feeling to not have to worry about misunderstanding something. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.
To get a head start on my next language, and to be more prepared for full immersion than I was when I came to China, I started self-studying Italian. Getting back onto the grammar bus has been challenging, but also fun (notecards, check!). I enjoy being a student (actually, I absolutely love school) so I'm also looking forward to going back to FSI and starting language training full time. The inner (and possibly outer) nerd in me can't wait to be back in study mode. And who knows? Maybe my brain is better organized for a Western, romance language than an Eastern character-based language. Here's hoping!
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