When I was in an airport bookstore in Beijing, I was glancing over the 'learn chinese' section and started flipping through a book called 'Making Out In Chinese'. I thought it was just an attention grabbing title. The first half of the book looked very helpful. It provided all the basic Chinese greetings and phrases in a very American friendly format. But the 2nd half really was about 'making out' and more. It provided translation for everything from body parts to STD's. It was $26 at the airport, but only $6 on Amazon. I had already decided to buy it on Amazon when I was flipping through the 1st half, but now I feel kind of dirty!
I also bought a simple English/Pinyin (phonetic chinese) dictionary. I think it will be very helpful. I am going to make a broader effort to learn Chinese this year for a few reasons. 1. It's a great skill to have. 2. I have been maintaining contact with many Chinese since I've been back and 3. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that I could live in China for an extended period at some point in my life.
Between talking to Chinese people (through their instant messenger called QQ) and studying these resources, I think I will be speaking somewhat adequate Chinese in 2-3 years. We'll see.
1 comment:
Great to hear that your trip went so well. Not sure about the dirty book stuff though--no matter what language it is in... I do chuckle at your discovery though... It sounds like every sleezy-dirt-bag-looking-to-go-to-another-culture-to-score's dream! I am glad you are not that guy!!
Cheers!
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