A source of inspiration...
Dec. 14th, 2005 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpOne might reasonably ask: why is a fellow on the teeter-point of the half-century mark interested in learning Chinese?
Well, part of it has to do with my own perception of the future emergence of China on the world stage, a phenomenon hinted at in our daily news reports and supported in our collective consciousness in various movies ranging from Blade Runner to Serenity.
Part of it has to do with my efforts to keep the neural pathways in my brain lubricated, and to create and maintain as many new such pathways as possible in the course of my daily life.
Part of it is satisfying my curiosity as to how one thinks in Chinese (an extension of my general linguistic curiosity).
And part of it has to do with my late brother Carlos' fascination with China and his stories of the time he worked there as a trainer for Honeywell.
One might also reasonably ask: what makes a fellow on the teeter-point of the half-century mark think he can learn Chinese?
Well, perhaps the prime factor is my natural optimism towards subjects both academic and linguistic. But it also helps to know it can be done.
One of the fellows whose job it is to drive a van for my old employer, as part of the company's logistics services to pick up and deliver visitors from and to various locations, is a fellow named Carl who, I suspect, is long past the half-century mark. (There is nothing magical about the number 50, by the way, except that it seems to me that many in the younger crowd deem it to be solidly on the "over the hill" end of the age scale.)
At any rate, back when I still worked for the company, Carl began - on his own - to pick up some Russian phrases, mostly to help himself out when picking up newly arrived visitors at the airport. In the spare time between van runs, he could be seen with his nose buried in a Russian phrase book. Today, while his skills are not of a professional caliber, he seems pretty capable of holding his own in a casual conversation.
Including the rest of tonight's shift, I've got two nights left on this assignment. Time to get cracking.
Cheers...
Well, part of it has to do with my own perception of the future emergence of China on the world stage, a phenomenon hinted at in our daily news reports and supported in our collective consciousness in various movies ranging from Blade Runner to Serenity.
Part of it has to do with my efforts to keep the neural pathways in my brain lubricated, and to create and maintain as many new such pathways as possible in the course of my daily life.
Part of it is satisfying my curiosity as to how one thinks in Chinese (an extension of my general linguistic curiosity).
And part of it has to do with my late brother Carlos' fascination with China and his stories of the time he worked there as a trainer for Honeywell.
One might also reasonably ask: what makes a fellow on the teeter-point of the half-century mark think he can learn Chinese?
Well, perhaps the prime factor is my natural optimism towards subjects both academic and linguistic. But it also helps to know it can be done.
One of the fellows whose job it is to drive a van for my old employer, as part of the company's logistics services to pick up and deliver visitors from and to various locations, is a fellow named Carl who, I suspect, is long past the half-century mark. (There is nothing magical about the number 50, by the way, except that it seems to me that many in the younger crowd deem it to be solidly on the "over the hill" end of the age scale.)
At any rate, back when I still worked for the company, Carl began - on his own - to pick up some Russian phrases, mostly to help himself out when picking up newly arrived visitors at the airport. In the spare time between van runs, he could be seen with his nose buried in a Russian phrase book. Today, while his skills are not of a professional caliber, he seems pretty capable of holding his own in a casual conversation.
Including the rest of tonight's shift, I've got two nights left on this assignment. Time to get cracking.
Cheers...
