DON’T TELL
ME I CAN’T...
WORDS:
MISHAAL
KHAN
L
ookingupfromthemenu,I order
a bottleofwine,makingsureI’m
pronouncingeachwordcorrectly.
Thewaitersmiles,applaudingmy
efforts.TravellingtoBeijingwith
mypartner,Hugh,is a dreamcometrue,
butbeingabletospeaktothelocals in
Mandarinmakesit soincredible.
WhenI firsttookupMandarin
lessonsin2015,I founditsochallenging
andI wonderedifI’deverbeableto
mastersucha complexbutbeautiful
language.Afterall,learninglanguages
hadneverbeenmystrongpoint.At
school,I’dstudiedFrenchat A level, and
eventhoughI passed,it
wasa struggle– andI forgot
mostofwhatI’dlearnt.
I wasmoreinterestedin
thearts– andafterschool,
I becamea contemporary
artcuratorandwriter.
Then,insummer1998,
I metHughthroughwork.Lifewasbusy
- andastheyearspassed,I alwaysloved
returningtotheclassroomasa pupil
andteacher,completingvariouscourses
inWebDesignandBookkeeping.In
2013,I startedteachinga Curating
courseattheUniversityofWestminster.
I hada fewChineseandTaiwanese
pupilsandI wasfascinatedbythem.
I lovedhearingthemchattoeachother
inMandarin,itsoundedsointricate.
I becamecuriousabouteastAsian
culture,andwhenI spotteda leafletat
theuniversityforMandarinclasses,I
wasexcited.‘Wouldn’titbeamazingif
I couldlearn?’I saidtoHughthatnight.
Heagreed– wasencouragingand
interested in my idea. I worried that it
ForAngelaKingston,
goingbacktoschool
gaveheraninsight
into a new world...
wouldbea difficultlanguagetomaster,
duetoalltheunusualcharacters,but
Hughhadfaithinmeandreassuredme.
I wasspurredon,andthemore
I thoughtaboutit,themoreI feltready
forthechallenge– soI signedup.Atmy
first lessoninSeptember2015,I was
nervousand,at56,I thought
I’dbetheoldestinmyclass.
I wasn't;theclasswasmade
upofpeopleofallages.
Tobegin,westartedwith
thebasics,learningtomake
theunfamiliarsounds
requiredfromthelanguage,
andgradually,whatallthecharacters
meant.I wasmesmerisedbythebeautiful
shapesandsymbols.Myfavouritewas
thecharacterfor‘familyhome’,which is a
roofwitha littlepigunderneath.
Asanolderstudent,I worrieditmay
takemelongertopickthingsup,but
I enjoyeditsomuchthatI wasprepared
todedicatemyfreetimetostudying.
Poringovermytextbookeverynight,
I refusedtogiveup,writingoutthe
charactersI’dlearntthatweekhundreds
oftimes,untilI gotthehangofthem.
Everysinglesoundrequiredincredible
vocal-chordcontrol,andtheslightest
mispronunciationcouldchangethe
entiremeaningofa word.AsI repeated
the sounds parrot fashion with a tape
everynight(muchtotheannoyanceof
Hugh,whojustwantedsomepeaceand
quietintheevenings!),themuscles
aroundmycollarboneached.
Despitemyhardwork,inonelesson
I scoredzerooutof 20 ina quizandfelt
reallydisheartened.ButI persevered
andcontinuedstudyingfortwoyears.
TheninSeptember2017,HughandI
bookeda triptoBeijing.I couldn’twait
toexperiencethecultureandtryout
myMandarin.Inpreparation,I studied
handyphrasesandkeywordsthatmight
beuseful.Whenwearrived,I foundthe
localssowelcomingandimpressed
withmyeffortstospeaktheirlanguage.
Sincethen,I’vecontinuedpractising,
andwhileI’mnotfluentyet,
that’smygoal.Learning
a newlanguagehas
remindedmethatit’s
nevertoolatetotry
newthingsandpush
your boundaries.
AngelaandHugh
travelledtoChina
to test out her skills
...learn a new
language
‘IFELT
READY FORA
CHALLENGE’
Yes, youcan
BUTREMEMBER...
✱Findareputablecourse,with
teacher agood
whowillsupportyouduring
yourstudies.TheBBCoffersa
course freeshort
forbeginners.Goto:bbc.co.uk/
languages/chinese/real_chinese/
✱Itwon’tbeeasy!Learning
language anynew
ishardandneedsdedication,
butMandarin^
isthoughttobethe
hardest language to master.