Woman UK – 22 July 2019

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.