Toddling...

I have been a student of the"Chinese for Adults" course at the Albany Chinese School for the last five months. Here is my contribution to what was collected for the School Magazine from our class ;-)
It simply says,

My name is Sarath.
I am from India.
I would like to learn chinese.
I can speak, read and write in three other languages including English, Hindi and my mother tongue Malayalam.

Here is a picture of our class,


The classes are held every sunday from 1 PM to 3PM and the current semester ends on May 11th. The next semester classes begin in September. If you are in the capital region and are looking forward to learning Mandarin, there is no better choice. The instructor Xuewen Wang (aka Sherry Wang) is a gifted teacher with endless patience. Although I am still light years away from being fluent in Mandarin, I think this course has helped me reach a stage from where I can start learning the language on my own. Let me know if anyone has tried "Rosetta Stone" ..I have so far received one positive first hand review from one of my classmates.

Now coming back to the obvious question of why I chose Chinese. Well, there are several reasons,
1. I have always wanted to learn a foreign language.
2. I can still learn one of the European languages after I return to India (hopefully in a few years, unless I fall victim to the N+1 syndrome).Unlike Mandarin, it is not very difficult to locate French or German instructors in India.
3. With my dreams of relocating to the Eastern Hemisphere after graduating from B-School, I am sure a little Mandarin would come in handy.
4. I want to truly understand this phenomenon called "China" - this great trasformation that we have witnessed and are witnessing.
5. Visit Tibet someday (certainly not this year :-)) )
6. Learning (if voluntary) is a healthy break from the drudgeries of the "Land of Cubicles".
7. Resist Cerebral Atrophy :-).

Well, this is a long haul and I certainly have no illusions of it being a smooth ride.I hope that in the next few years I reach a stage where I can read chinese websites and news papers.