RE: Learn a new language

["Lydia Wong" <lydiaw -at- fpoint -dot- com>]

My husband's from Georgia (Augusta, to be precise--yes, he's been to the
Masters), but people often assume he's from somewhere "else" because he's
Asian (okay, Chinese American to be PC). It's a little annoying, but he's
used to it, and has various ways of using humor to make himself and the
other person comfortable after they say something like "You aren't from
around here, are you?" (typical southern question--I get it too because I
grew up in Wisconsin and don't speak quite right ;-)

My two cents on the language dicussion is to agree with those who point out
it can't hurt and might help. And if it's Chinese you're trying to learn,
it's not just the dialect, but the language. Most people who have immigrated
here or are working here speak Mandarin. Many people who have ancestors who
immigrated here speak Cantonese (which is what my husband's family speaks).
Beyond that comes the dialects (my father-in-law and his family speak one
dialect of Cantonese, my mother-in-law and her family speak another).

And no, I don't know many phrases (my husband doesn't speak more than a
smattering of Cantonese himself). When I try to use the few phrases I've
learned, people laugh at me, but good-naturedly. As everyone has said, they
appreciate the effort. But boy, either Chinese language is not for the
timid!

Good luck, John!

Lydia
---------------------------------------
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Robohelp X3, from eHelp, lets you quickly and easily create 
professional Help systems for all your Windows and Web-based 
applications, including Net.

Buy RoboHelp Office X4 by June 13th and receive
$100 mail-in rebate, Plus FREE RoboHelp Plus Pack.

Order RoboHelp today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.