mandarin chinese language learning
my mandarin learning journey
why mandarin? my motivations & goals
to study a country's history is to listen to its stories. but for my entire academic life, I’ve been listening through a translator.
after spending a year immersed in the profound changes of china's 20th century, wrestling with concepts as deep and culturally specific as guanxi (关系), I realized I had reached the limit of what I could understand secondhand. to truly grasp the nuances of a society, its policy debates, its historical memory, and its human element, you must be able to engage with it in its own language.
my goal is to work at the intersection of public policy and data in china. that work demands more than a surface-level understanding. learning mandarin is a practical and necessary step towards that future. it is the tool that will allow me to read primary documents, understand the subtleties of official language, and connect more directly with the people whose lives are shaped by the systems I study. for me, this is not just an academic exercise; it's a fundamental requirement for the meaningful, hands-on work I am committed to doing.
current study focus
汉è¯å¦ä¹ 任务 🇨🇳
milestones & learning log
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phase 1: under construction
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class starts:
monday, june 16th!
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class starts:
my learning toolkit: resources & tools
a curated list of what i'm finding most effective in my language learning journey.
- under: construction!
reflections on the journey
under
"construction"
challenges & strategies
und- do you get it yet?