Hi, my name is Pete Jackson. I’m originally from Warwickshire in the UK, and I currently live in Shanghai, where I edit\u00a0Shanghai247.net [no longer available], a website bringing artists together and providing news on the music and arts scene in Shanghai.\u00a0I first came to China in 2006, just before starting a Chinese Studies degree at Oxford University. I studied in Beijing for 6 months in 2008 and came to Shanghai in 2010 as soon as I graduated, and have been here ever since.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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How long have you been studying Chinese? In what context? For what purpose?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I began studying Chinese 6 years ago when I began my undergraduate degree in Chinese Studies. To this day I\u2019m not entirely sure why I picked that course, having never been to\u00a0China and not knowing anything about the country. I think I just wanted to study a third of the world \u2013\u00a0that and I liked\u00a0Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon<\/em>. Luckily, it\u2019s worked out and learning Chinese has given me\u00a0access to a whole range of new knowledge and experiences.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve lived in Shanghai for the past two years and used Chinese a lot in my work. I worked\u00a0as a translator in a marketing department for a school, and some months ago I began editing\u00a0shanghai247.net, an alternative music and arts website for Shanghai. We\u2019re starting to publish more articles in Chinese and getting involved more on Chinese social media, which is really pushing me to start using my language more.<\/p>\n Do you have a certain philosophy for how you approach learning Chinese? Do you have any grand \u60f3\u6cd5s about it all?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I think you\u2019ve got to accept that\u00a0mastering Chinese is a task that could take decades<\/strong>, and don\u2019t get put off if you don\u2019t think you\u2019re making progress. If you don\u2019t break up the task into manageable bits, you will go crazy.<\/p>\n Find things that you want to read and people you want to talk to in Chinese<\/strong>. I made the most progress when I was reading texts I liked and when I found people I wanted to communicate with more, people with similar interests to myself.<\/p>\n What aspects of studying Chinese do you enjoy the most? (this can be specific study resources, methods, activities, social aspects etc.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I actually really enjoyed studying classical Chinese, which a lot of my classmates hated.\u00a0Translating\u00a0it was like solving a really interesting puzzle, and the texts were fascinating<\/em>. Reading the\u00a0Shiji<\/em>\u00a0was like\u00a0reading a cool manga, and\u00a0Zhuangzi<\/em> was a mind-expanding trip.<\/p>\n These days, I just enjoy meeting new people in Shanghai, especially when the conversation is fuelled by copious amounts of good food and Qingdao.<\/p>\n What mistakes do you see other language learners make? What should people NOT do when\u00a0studying Chinese?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s a false economy when people say they don\u2019t want to learn characters.\u00a0Being literate is\u00a0surprisingly useful<\/strong>, and there\u2019s only so far you can go with pinyin before it becomes super confusing.\u00a0Also,\u00a0never think that tones aren\u2019t important<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t get it right at the beginning, you\u2019ll have\u00a0to relearn everything all over again. I\u2019m discovering that now because I learned most of my vocab\u00a0visually, without remembering the tones. Big mistake.<\/p>\n Any favorite words or phrases? (loads don’t have equivalents in English)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Recently a friend told me that she was going to play badminton and that she would turn into a\u00a0lemon<\/strong>. This is because when you get cramp in Chinese you call it \u9178\u75db, and lemons are sour, \u9178. That\u2019s a recent favorite.<\/p>\n I also love how numbers are insults for no particular reason (not one that I have found out yet, anyway). Calling someone \u4e8c is really funny to me, and saying \u4f60\u5341\u4e09\u70b9\u5566<\/strong>\uff01 (you\u2019re thirteen o\u2019clock!)\u00a0is a really satisfying insult, especially in Shanghainese.<\/p>\n Funny stories from your experience? Embarrassing language mistakes, misunderstandings, surreal\u00a0moments etc.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I tried to learn a bit of Shanghainese a while back. Turns out that in Shanghainese saying \u6211\u5403\u9971\u4e86 (I\u2019m full) sounds awfully similar to \u6211\u8d64\u818a\u4e86 (I\u2019m naked [give or take]). I made that mistake whilst eating dinner with the family of a 9-year-old I tutored. They found it pretty funny though, luckily. That was the day I decided Shanghainese was too difficult.<\/p>\n Also, no one will ever let me forget the time I ordered silkworms by mistake<\/strong>. We were at a seafood restaurant, and I assumed that even though some of these things on the menu had the insect radical in the name, they would be some sort of shellfish. Ended up having to eat a plate of silkworms and pretend that I enjoyed it. Not making that mistake again.<\/p>\n Any memorable milestones? Any, “Aha!”, or eureka moments?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I stayed with a Chinese family for 2 months and when I left, I realized that I was really going to miss\u00a0them, and that I had made a genuine friendship with people who didn\u2019t speak my language at all. That\u00a0was a nice feeling.<\/p>\n How do you keep yourself motivated while studying Chinese?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Playing music and rehearsing with Chinese musicians<\/strong> has been the most rewarding thing for me.\u00a0When you share interests with people, you\u2019re motivated to do things that you enjoy together, and\u00a0the language progress comes more naturally. It\u2019s less artificial than a language exchange, as you\u00a0automatically have projects and goals in common.<\/p>\n Absolute, hands down, favorite Chinese dish?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Don\u2019t make me choose! Maybe \u4e1c\u5761\u8089 in Hangzhou, really nice meat with a big thick layer of fat. Mmmmmm. Also, tofu kebabs at 3am.<\/p>\n Do you have one last tip for something that our readers can do TODAY to improve their Chinese?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Invite a Chinese friend to dinner, preferably somewhere with the aforementioned quantities of\u00a0cheap Qingdao.\u00a0Also, a bit of a plug, but read some cool articles in Chinese\u00a0here [link no longer available]!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thanks Pete for the great advice, as well as some cool resources for all those music & arts lovers to check out! I’d just add one more resource to that list: FluentU<\/a>. FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n
![\"FluentU](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/NativeAd-Chinese.jpg\")
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