I was asked before coming to China if I had considered Taiwan instead (of the mainland). My answer – I don’t want to go to Taiwan because Chinese is difficult enough and I don’t want to have to learn the traditional characters. You see – in terms of their language (despite both speaking Mandarin Chinese) Taiwan and China are worlds apart. As to whether or not they are separate countries – I will just say “No comment” for the time being.
For a little lesson in the differences between Mainland China Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Mandarin Chinese check out this article by BBC News: China and Taiwan
I would have to agree with the eight year old student in the article. Writing Chinese characters (or 汉字）is very tiring and difficult. I am still flabbergasted by the thought of having to learn and write traditional characters. I will stick to Mainland China’s simple characters for now.
Simple… like the ones I learn in Chinese class.
葡萄酒
(wine)
睡觉
(sleep)
香蕉
(banana)
蛋糕
(cake)
Oh, those are just a few. But speaking of Chinese characters, I think I impressed my students today when I wrote a sentence on the board in Chinese. Go Julia! The English teacher can write in Chinese!!
Another side note… I managed to entertain a stranger at Starbucks by telling Roger (who is a Brit) that I was now teaching his former students “proper American English”. The man sitting across from us burst into laughter as he too was British and found my claim quite entertaining. 🙂
Life in China 
June 1st, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Wow – fascinating tidbits. I’m particularly impressed by the concept of prohibiting banned additives, too. But then, one of my students just wrote in a paper that the black market should be banned. Hmmm – is there a theme here?
June 2nd, 2011 at 7:24 am
Did you know that in British English the last letter of the alphabet is pronounced “zed?” Your post reminded me of a conversation I had with an Italian who spoke proper British English. We had a good laugh or two about the differences between the two versions of the same language.