Why did Jody start to learn Chinese? [originaltext]M: Hello and welcome to Langu

M: Hello and welcome to Language Cafe. My name is Carl! Hey, Jody, I’ve heard you’ve been learning Chinese for a while. Can you say something about your learning, like why you learn it and whether you’ve met any difficulties?
W: Actually I started studying Chinese when I arrived in China. I didn’t know any Chinese before that time, Carl. I arrived in Shanghai when I was 21 years old, not speaking any Chinese. And I arrived at the train station at 3 o’clock in the morning surrounded by people who didn’t speak my language. And I can tell you it was a little frightening. So, I did the only thing I knew…I sang a song, "Rain drops Keep Falling on My Head". And everyone started laughing and it made the situation better. Actually, one of my friends said that he began studying in college while he was in the United States. I did not do that. I got a scholarship to leave the country and go to China and study, and I took advantage of it. I really wanted to go abroad to study and China seemed like the most foreign place on the planet.
M: Two of the most challenging things when you study Chinese, in particular, are the tones and the characters. I think that’s just extremely difficult. And it was frustrating to be teaching...teaching kindergarten kids and realizing that their reading was much better than mine.
W: Oh, definitely. The tones and the characters, yes, they’re so difficult. We’re just not used to them. We’re not used to the strict tonal aspect of Chinese.
M: The best thing to do when you’re learning Chinese is to be around a lot of four-year-olds. And the reason I say that is because their level of Chinese and yours are at the very beginning quite similar. You can have these great conversations like "I’m hungry! " "I like blue. " "I want the ball! " And so, I thought it was great to be able to do that...very simple Chinese expressions with four and five-year-olds.
W: Yeah. I didn’t teach small children. I taught university students and we mostly used English. But I did have the opportunity to make friends with students in the music department and I learned several Chinese pop songs and I was able to perform with them and sing Chinese songs at concerts. And when you’re a foreigner living in China you get asked to do television commercials and acting shows.
M: Not only the language, but most importantly, the culture and how people live their lives and make a living and have fun.