Mobile assisted Mandarin Learning
I’m going to start using this blog as a reflective journal as I try and learn a bit more Mandarin. Apart from the being able to practice what I preach I have a real motivation to learn Mandarin.
Although I live in Hong Kong where the tongue is Cantonese, my kids are learning Mandarin at school and I am useless at helping them with their homework. They’re also not enjoying it. I’m hoping that if I make an effort they may respond and make more of an effort themselves. If I can understand what they are doing they will become more engaged. If I can take them to mainland China and use the language, they will see the beauty of being able to converse in another language.
So, armed with a handful of apps I’m going to make a decent effort at learning the language and reflecting on the mobile aspects of this journey.
Some disclaimers:
- I have had about three Mandarin lessons in the past. However I dropped out after we went from numbers 1 to 10 in the first lesson to full page descriptions of people in the third.
- I have been to China about 6 or 7 times for work and pleasure and picked up (or at least heard) some of the absolute bear essentials
- I am trying to get a teacher in for an hour a week to work with the family.
