Speaking Chinese
January 14th, 2008
While my Chinese could definitely use some improvement, I can at least hold a relatively normal conversation with someone completely in Mandarin. I accredit it to learning my Chinese when I was 2 years old and spent four months in Taiwan. 
However, my Chinese isn’t that good to where I find myself thinking in Chinese. It’s usually think in English and then translate over.
One thing that I think is pretty strange about my knowledge of Chinese, is that whenever I find myself talking to someone who I know speaks Chinese or is speaking Chinese to me, I will naturally try to talk back in Chinese. The other person doesn’t even have to be older than me for me to talk back to them in Chinese. I wonder why this is… maybe my parents have trained me well enough to use Chinese, or maybe I’m just weird like that. 
For those that know a secondary language really well, do you find yourself naturally using that language when you’re conversing with someone who’s fluent in that language? So, if you don’t find me speaking to you in Chinese, maybe it’s because I subconsciously don’t think your Chinese is that good. 
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psh, my chinese is fine
Comment by Michael — 1/14/08 @ 9:36 pm
yg cantos…are all pretty good at speaking canto.
^o^v
Comment by Boaz — 1/15/08 @ 10:08 pm
You spent 4 months in Taiwan at your grandparent’s house
Comment by Judy tai — 1/16/08 @ 3:47 pm
If the person does not know English, I will surely try to speak in Chinese, i.e. my grandfather. However, if the person DOES know English, I may respond in either English or Chinese, depending on if I know the words I need to use in Chinese or not.
Though, when I stayed in Hong Kong with some relatives for almost two months over a summer, when I got back to the states, everything that came out of my mouth was in Chinese and I was even thinking in Chinese. Needless to say, my mother was tickled pink. That was over 10 years ago. I no longer think in Chinese.
Comment by maggie — 1/27/08 @ 11:51 pm