When you grow up in a rough neighbourhood, you start fantasising about running away from a very young age.
Luckily, I somehow resisted doing anything stupid, and stuck around in school until I was eighteen, when I left school with 14 GCSEs and 3 A-Levels (the qualifications needed for university). I was all set up ready to go to university, get out of my home town, and make my name. I was desperate to finally get out of there.
So I went to a university on the other side of the country (I lived in the South East of England, went to university in the North West). It wasn’t a highly renowned uni, but they had an amazing Chinese department, and on their open day the Asia Pacific Studies talks sparked a feeling of eager fascination that I haven’t felt in a long time.
I signed up for the course, but after honeymoon period of about six months my brain was completely fried. I was exhausted, frustrated and damn near close to giving up. Writing character after character, again and again…I felt so dead inside.
And I think my teachers caught on.
They asked me, why did you choose Chinese of all languages? Why not French? That would’ve been nice and easy, I’d studied it before at GCSE level and done well, and if I wanted to practise speaking/listening France isn’t far away.
I thought about it. Why was I crazy enough to study Chinese?
And I realised, I bloody love the challenge.
I love the thrill. The feeling of having something damn near unsurmountable to overcome. The feeling of having something meaty to sink my proverbial teeth into.
I wanted to prove myself.
The money, the cultural exchange, the opportunities for travel…those were all amazing potential bonuses that just added to it.
And with that answer, my teachers just smiled, and I returned to my pile of books.
If anyone else is interested in studying Chinese, these are the books that I used in England and in China. Teachers in both countries were swearing by these books during my time at university, and I found them invaluable:
It’s a lot of books, but they really do the trick. If you’re really dedicated to learning Mandarin Chinese, I truly recommend you check them out.
Academic Research 