There are two Chinas, actually, the People's Republic of China (the big country) and the Republic of China (the island of Taiwan), but both countries are Mandarin-speaking and Mandarin-writing.

This poses a problem for me, especially considering the vast population of the big China. Mandarin is becoming more of an important language to know in the world, and I'm already affected, despite that fact that my "world" is still not very big.

On Friday afternoon, while I was at home, the phone started ringing. I decided to pick it up, figuring it might be one of my parents. It was a lady speaking in Mandarin. I was quiet a while, trying to translate it in my head. The lady finally said something in English, something about a clinic, and that made sense to me. Then she spoke in Mandarin asking if ___ (my mom's name) was home, to which I responded she wasn't. The lady seemed slightly worried, saying that my mom had an appointment tomorrow and she wanted to know if it could be rescheduled or something like that. I tried to reply that I would tell my mom, but I couldn't come up with the right words...So after a little pause, I hung up.

This made me realize what a pickle I'm in. I can understand Mandarin to some degree (I know more of the Shanghai dialect than Mandarin because my parents speak that at home), but I am illiterate (the only ones I can easily recognize are 人, 一, 二, 三, 四, 月, 火, 上, 下, 小, 大, 云, and 中). Also, I can only say a few phrases. One of the phrases I know sounds like "Wan Dan La!" (Don't really know how to translate it.) My parents say it is something more commonly said in Taiwan, almost like slang, I guess, and they think I must have picked it up from one of my friends from Taiwan. But that's weird, because usually I speak English with my friends.

Anyways, I will be in a real fix if Mandarin becomes the language of the world. I mean, it's already the #1 spoken language of the world, and the second place language, Spanish, is far behind. I'm kind of worried. I don't think I could easily learn to read Chinese at this age. I did start learning once during a summer, years back, but I've already forgotten. It was more like I was memorizing the lines so I knew what to say; not sure if I actually knew what I was reading. Anyways, it gets harder and harder the older you get to learn a language. So if you want to learn, start early. (I'm jealous of my cousins in France. They have already started learning English and they're not even in middle school yet)

Recently, my middle school had an Electives Night. I didn't attend, though I wanted to (just to get cookies from the cooking classroom! They have great cookies). My mom said, "Why do you want to go? You're going to a different school next year, so it doesn't matter." And so I stayed home.

But some students did go, to help my French teacher out, since she has to "sell" her classes and all. Parents and students tend to wonder, "Should I take French or Spanish?" (I say French, but I'm biased.) Since Spanish is considered to be more useful (because more people speak Spanish, and California is close to Mexico), more students take Spanish. And there is somewhat of a misconception that Spanish is easier than French. (I have no idea about that, but I'm guessing they're about the same once you get used to them. You just have to get more of an accent for speaking French) There is one good argument for French, though, and that's the fact that there is no Spanish Week at my school, only French Week. Haha!

I really wish the schools still offered German. And I'd like to learn Italian (but then again, I hear if you know French or Spanish - or both - it shouldn't be too hard to understand Italian. French, Spanish, and Italian all use the word "Ciao!" for "goodbye"). It'd be nice if my school had Japanese. Then I could learn Japanese 1 in 8th grade and take Japanese 2 in high school. It seems weird that Japanese 2 is an option for freshmen. Only people who learned Japanese outside of school or who already knew Japanese would be able to take it, right? I feel like it's a setback for me and other students since we can't take Japanese in middle school (not even Mandarin, the class got cut, sadly). I'd like to be able to get all 5 levels of a language done.

Then again, it's not horrible if you don't take AP classes, is it? I've heard that AP classes are college level classes. I suppose if you take AP classes and then make yourself busy in college, you can graduate earlier or something. But I don't see why you have to be in such a rush in life. Why not take it at your own pace? (Assuming your pace isn't as slow as mine, since I want to retire and all) I guess this competitive world and market makes people feel they must try their hardest, be the fastest and the best, so they can come out on top.

But if you've got friends like these, who needs anemone? (Get it? It's a joke from Finding Nemo.) I know that doesn't make sense, but I just wanted to say that for once.

Labels: ap classes, china, ciao, college, competiton, difficulty, finding nemo, french week, important, italian, japanese, joke, language, mandarin, mother, phone call, reading, school, spanish, taiwan

It seems to me that time makes all the difference sometimes in the mood of a person. A prime example is my history teacher. Last trimester, I had him for the first period of the day, but now I have him for second period. It's only about an hour difference, but it matters quite a bit. In first period, he tended to be more bad-tempered, though occasionally he did seem in a good mood. In second period he is more talkative and generally more pleasant to be around. Well, they say teenagers' brains don't truly wake up until around 9 or 10 am. Maybe it applies to adults too.

I was pretty annoyed at the homework I received recently. For two of the questions, we are directed to look at page 222 in the textbook. We are studying the Constitution, but page 222 talks about Mormons. (I tried checking the section of the textbook that is about the Constitution. There's not much info) I guess it's referring to the old textbook. It annoys me that we have to use this thinner, lamer textbook. But there's not much can we do. (I heard that California uses a different science textbook than the rest of the USA, and my teacher last year said the national textbook was awesome, and I am upset by this)

I am displeased with the education system in the USA. It is true that some of the best colleges in the world are here. I mean, one of my friends moved to China many, many years ago, and her sister got into Harvard. Clearly, they'd rather come to the USA for college than stay in China. D:

So, to rectify this problem (I am practicing using my vocab words this week, that's why I used such a strange word), I have decided I am going to attempt to move to another country. Preferably, one in Europe, because there are generally higher life expectancys, average incomes, and living conditions overall over there. I have also considered Japan because the Japanese live the longest on average despite the fact that there are smokers (French live pretty long too, though). A woman could live to be 86 on average whereas in the USA, women on average only live to be 80. I tell you, you can do many things in 6 years of your life! So I could be saving myself if I moved. The problem is that the USA does make a hefty sum of money. Liechtenstein, Qatar, and Luxembourg have a much higher GDP, though. (I've been to Luxembourg, personally, I thought it was nice, but there are apparently many pessimistic people there, though Japan seems to have many pessimists according to the Wii Everybody Votes poll)

I was thinking of perhaps San Marino. People speak Italian there, which means I might have trouble getting along at first, but at least French and Italian have some similarities. (One time I was reading a description of some brushes, but it was in another language. I tried to use Google Translate "French to English" - didn't work. Tried "Spanish to English" and didn't work either. I was confused, so I did "Detect language to English" so it would do the work for me. Turns out it was Italian...)

The money is not too bad and the HDI is fairly high. The USA's HDI is .950, I believe. Norway has the highest...And Australia is second highest! Maybe I should move to Australia! They have cool accents there, and they speak English, and besides they make a good sum of money. Also, there are lots of beaches because most people live along the coast anyway - probably too dry and desolate in the middle of the continent - and I love the beach. I want to live near there. The sound helps me go to sleep quickly. That's why I fell asleep quickly the time I slept near the ocean in Japan, even though I was on a futon on the tatami mat. (My mom couldn't fall asleep as fast, apparently she expected it to be painful, or she had back pain or whatever)

I also slept well in Australia despite the dramatic time change. That's surprising. When I went to China the second most recent time (the most recent time I went to China was last winter), I got sick from lack of sleep. I fell asleep during the day and woke up at night. But I wasn't supposed to sleep during the day, so my grandma woke me up on purpose by using an annoying talking stuffed animal. You know, the kind where you press the belly and it talks... -_-;;

Labels: australia, college, education, europe, gdp, hdi, italian, language, lifespan, misinformed, mood, ocean, san marino, sleep, time, time zone

Top ↑