Chinese Class offered to SUAF by John Olivar
Ni hao, hello !
A learner proudly displaying a phrase learned at a session of Chinese class!
Thinking out of the box, SUAF had decided to initiate a Chinese language class as a means of promoting camaraderie among members with wildly diverse backgrounds.
It has been known for a while that members working and playing together in an activity is an effective way of enhancing Sillimanite camaraderie. The issue is in selecting the activity that draws common interest.
With this in mind, it was decided that "the love of learning" would be the motivation for members to participate in an activity way outside of their comfort zones. The activity chosen is to learn Mandarin, the defacto language of China.
Thus a group of San Diego Sillimanites got together to begin the journey that would hopefully be interesting and fun.
The learning sessions are lead by Luisa Sy, a friend of the SUAF who volunteered her time and expertise in teaching the subject. Luisa displays the refreshing attitude that "if you are willing to learn, I will be willing to teach" and in process, everyone can reap the benefits of the kind of fellowship Sillimanites are noted for.
Thus, a group of eager 60 - 70 year old college graduates gather every other week to explore a Mandarin reference book written for 6 - 7 year old grade pupils.
First lessons deals with greetings, like hello, good morning and good bye. Expectations were that the task of leaning Mandarin will mainly consist of leaning new vocabulary to express thoughts. A good exercise of memory skills
The first challenge was understanding that Pinyin, the process of using the Western alphabet to replicate the Chinese characters, deviated from the familiar Alphabet in ways that are foreign to non Chinese speakers.
This was illustrated in the word Hello, which is Ni hao in mandarin, A review of notes from the first day shows that the phrase was recorded as "knee how"
Also among the first lessons was learning to count one to five. No big deal, we can all learn the 5 simple words. All went well till the teacher spoke of the number 4. The teacher, wrote the pinyin word as Si. Everyone read the word as SEE or the Spanish word for yes. Of course we were not even close.
The second major challenge was the issue in manipulating the mouth and tongue to produce the correct sound of the Chinese word. Actions we all take for granted when we speak the language we know. The group had a lot of fun trying to say and listening to the sounds that was meant to say 4 in Chinese.
Another challenge was in the pronunciation. The speaking Chinese involves the control of the tone in speaking. A word could mean one thing when spoken in a rising tone and something else when spoken in a flat tone.
For example, to be polite a person would refer to Jacks Jones mother as Ma Jones. If she is of Chinese decent and the speaker did not use the correct tone for Ma, Mrs Jones would be highly offended for she would be hear herself called a HORSE. The consequences may not be funny under the circumstances.
Such are the challenges experienced in the short time the lessons are taking place. More challenges are anticipated. But through it all, we are having a lot of fun dealing with the unexpected challenges. And for some strange reason, we all seems to be enjoying each other's company in the process.
Thus thinking outside the box as SUAF has done, can result in very desirable experiences. It may also be considered as anecdotal evidence that 60 - 70 year olds retains the ability to learn new things while enjoying the journey.