Eavesdropping

I really like my new office. Apart from the fact that I get to start over in a new area and have all sorts of new things to learn (which alternately daunts me and inspires me) and the fact that I don’t have to sit in airconditioning if I don’t want to (the window opens, and being on the fifth floor means that there is a breeze even on a warm day – I haven’t used the airconditioner in the room yet), one of my neighbours is an academic from mainland China. This means I can occasionally hear him speaking in Mandarin through the open window/thin walls. His voice is just muffled enough so that I can’t usually hear what he is saying, apart from the odd word when he gets excited and raises his voice. And this is a good thing, you ask?

Well, I am one of those strange people who enjoys listening to programmes in languages I don’t necessarily understand, on SBS radio (which broadcasts in various community languages), just to let the sounds of the languages wash over me. And listening to Mandarin is strangely soothing, even if I can’t hear exactly what he’s saying, and even if it makes me realise that my verbal skills in Mandarin are quite rusty due to lack of use. This morning, reading this post on the Learning Cantonese blog, on language teachers and the reality of trying to master an ever-changing language, really makes me want to work on improving my Mandarin.It’s making me think I should organise a tutor in spoken Mandarin for myself. The only question is how I would fit this in.