#guoyu

I learnt the word for trash from Mr. Housework, when You Zhangjing and Wang Sulong had a long funny discussion about sorting the recycling, including which kind of garbage they themselves should be sorted with.

Thought this would be a fun first post!

1. Mandarin - I’m currently at around the B1 level in Mandarin. I’ve literally always wanted to learn it because I’m half Chinese, and it was my mom’s first language. Sadly, I didn’t really grow up speaking Mandarin (but I did suffer through Chinese school from 2nd-7th grade). Now I’m older and more serious about learning the language, so I’m taking it in college. I’m hoping to live in China for at least a few years after college.

2. Russian - I believe I’m also at the B1 level in Russian. I started taking Russian during a period during which I kind of “gave up” on wanting to learn Chinese. I wanted to try another language, and I became interested in Russian in particular after learning some Soviet history in high school. Also, I have a lot of Russian Jewish ancestors, and I liked the idea of learning another language I had at least a slight connection to.

3. Spanish - I took Spanish for 7 years during elementary school, but I’ve basically forgotten everything. Unless I move abroad permanently, Spanish is obviously a very practical language (for an American). I also like the idea of learning a Romance language, but I’ve personally never had a lot of interest in French/Portuguese/Italian. I don’t feel a need to be very advanced at Spanish; I just want to be at a  “practical conversational” level.

4. German - German is a very new addition to my list. My best friend in middle school moved to the US from Germany, and I visited her once after she moved back. I’m mostly interested in German because I’m considering getting a graduate degree there. I would do an English program, but obviously German would come in handy if I were to live there for a couple years (or more)!