我会说一点汉语

I constantly get asked two questions: "Are you American?" and "Do you speak Chinese?" The answer to both is affirmative, but I am quick to clarify the second answer with: "I only speak a little Chinese." Of course, I am then asked to speak in Chinese and generally comment on the weather (still cold) or how I feel about Qingdao (it is very beautiful).

While it will no doubt be quite a long time until I will answer simply "Yes, I speak Chinese," I have been bolstered by recent improvements in my language skills. Every day brings new vocabulary, as well as more characters to memorize. As I build my vocabulary, I have more room to explain myself when I get stuck. While I consistently lack the actual word I want to use, I can now fumble my way through expressing what I want successfully enough to be given the correct word. There have even been some words I never thought I would use, such as "freeze-dried dumplings," that I have indeed used in conversation. After spending several days on vocabulary about being a guest and making dumplings, I was indeed invited to someone's house to make dumplings. What a perfect time to practice!!

One day a few weeks ago I went shopping and came back to the dorm elated, excitedly wanting to share my stories. Not many people understood why I was so happy, but I had experienced my first real success in Chinese! Considering I had learned words for colors and clothing recently, I was perfectly able to shop on the street. Instead of just asking the price and being shown numbers on a calculator, I was actually able to communicate with the sellers, asking about additional merchandise and making polite conversation.

"This color is too light. Do you have darker colors, maybe black?"
"These shoes are too big. Do you have smaller ones?"
"Why is this shirt 60? The sign says 30-50?"
"Why, yes, this is very comfortable."
"It's very pretty, but I don't think I will buy it."

Some phrases I even pulled directly from my textbook's practice dialogue, which greatly amused my classmates when I told them in class the next day. I ended up with good bargains (and really awesome yellow shoes!) but I was more excited to have engaged in a conversation where I didn't feel like I forced the other speaker to stifle their vocabulary. Success!

My friends and I have started to speak Chinese more often when we are just chatting. English gets thrown in a lot and Chinese words get misused but we all have the same vocabulary so we can all follow each other! In addition, each day's new vocabulary allows us to learn more about our classmates that don't speak English; we can only communicate in Chinese so it is a relationship in progress. We must be fun to watch at lunch: one person will attempt to explain something to the group using a combination of Chinese and hand motions, another person will catch on and then attempt to provide additional vocabulary that might help the people still lost, then finally there's a big aha moment before everyone laughs.

Oh, did I mention I had a dream in Chinese. It was mostly someone speaking Chinese to me and me getting frustrated that I could not understand it, but still, what a sign that I'm learning!