Wednesday, March 29, 2006
AN ASSESSMENT OF MY CHINESE ABILITIES
The other day, a little kid told me that I speak Chinese like "yin du ren," Indian people. This got me worrying. Is my Chinese like the Indians with British accents or is it more like Apu in the Simpsons? Today I asked my teacher to assess me. Here is what she said.
The other day, a little kid told me that I speak Chinese like "yin du ren," Indian people. This got me worrying. Is my Chinese like the Indians with British accents or is it more like Apu in the Simpsons? Today I asked my teacher to assess me. Here is what she said.
- I have an American accent (which is ok with me)
- My writing is equivalent to a Chinese 4th grader (10yrs old)
- My speaking is equivalent to a 4 or 5 year old.
- My reading is like that of an 7 year old.
I had thought that my speaking would be best, but the teacher pointed out that by age 6 or so, every kid here can speak Chinese fluently. They don't get proficient in reading and writing until later. I hadn't much thought about it, but I guess it's like that everywhere. When I was in first grade, I could speak much more English than I could read and write. After my time here, I'm not fluent as I had hoped to be, and I now see that it will take me a good 3 years of study here to be fluent.
