for many many years i've been absolutely in love with south-east asia and the languages spoken there. while the passion started from music, more specifically k-pop, i learned to appreciate, at first, the korean culture, to then expanding to the other countries in the region with the help of dramas.
long-time passion
now, while the description specifies that this is a new language journey, it's not my first rodeo with chinese. when i was around 13-14 and my spark for seasian cultures was booming, i decided to try my luck with the 3 main languages in the area, namely korean, japanese and chinese (not at the same time). i studied korean for quite some time, and it's very likely that i spent the most time learning it out of any other language i've studied so far (not counting english). i tried studying japanese, and while it's easy from a phonetic point of view, the fact that it has 3 alphabets put me off to some degree, so i quickly stopped studying it.
now, when it comes to mandarin chinese, i didn't study it for too long either, as i only managed to learn around 40-50 characters at the time. that being said, even when i stopped studying, i planted a seed in my mind that would say "you should learn mandarin at some point, even if it's not right now". as at the time i was finishing up middle school and focused on getting a good grade on the exams, i pushed it aside for another time, which is now.
influences and motivation
the recent political environment has highlighted for me and i believe many others that the propaganda western countries have been pushing against china and its culture has hidden from the world a gem of a culture and language. it might sound odd, as mandarin chinese is one of the most spoken languages in the world, however it doesn't change the misconceptions that people have had for years of the country, the culture and the language. i believe that this up-and-coming economic power from china will show the world what it is truly capable of in terms of infrastructure, technology, and culture, and i want to make sure that i'm one of the people that can be there to witness it.
what pushed me towards learning mandarin chinese was also the fact that my tiktok fyp has been absolutely filled to the brim with content about china and, more specifically, chongqing. while i've never visited, it's a gorgeous city from what i've seen online, and one day i'd love to explore it and enjoy all it's aspects. because of that, i refuse to visit it without speaking a decent level of mandarin, as i'm a true believer that visiting a country = learning the language.
the plan
so, what's the plan? study it for hours on end every day? well, not really. just as i've done with korean, i'll be taking my time with it, trying my best to integrate more aspects of the culture in my study plan, such as dramas, music, and other forms of media. who knows when i'll get the chance to actually visit china, but i'm overjoyed at the prospect of having a purpose for learning a new language besides just "i want to learn it". as someone who gets easily demotivated and distracted, having a goal is crucial and it will help me stay on track with my studies. besides this, mandarin chinese is not the only language that i'm studying at the moment, as i'm looking to get a B1 in dutch in the next couple of months so i can strengthen my job prospects here in the netherlands.
stay tuned to find out my progress, and who knows, in a few months' time you'll have heard from me that i passed one of the HSK exams :P