Literary Corner: Learning Mandarin At Age 69

We are highlighting the adventures of Rahel Halabe, Vancouver’s renowned Biblical and Modern Hebrew teacher, author of the
innovative textbook for learning Biblical Hebrew, Hinneh – Biblical Hebrew the Practical Way, and translator of Arabic literature to Hebrew. She has been in Beijing, China since September 2015, teaching Modern Hebrew to Chinese students at the Peking University. In her essay, she describes the process of learning Mandarin, as she applies herself to speaking, reading and writing the ancient Chinese language.We encourage our readers to suggest other topics involving Jewish culture and other languages such as Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, French and Russian.

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PHOTO: Rahel Halabe surrounded by her students holding images of Israel, at Peking University in China (February, 2016).

Last summer, when I turned 68, I received a very special gift, an opportunity to go to China and teach Hebrew at the Peking University for two semesters. I wanted to get a better idea what China is all about, apart from obvious stereotyping. In preparation for my adventure, I found watching Chinese movies and reading Modern Chinese literature in translation to be a good way. I recommend the novel by Nobel laureate Mo Yan, ‘Life and Death are Wearing Me Out’!. I also thought that learning a little Mandarin Chinese would be another way to get a better perspective on China. I was told that Mandarin is not a requirement for my job; if needed, the students would understand my instruction in English. Still, why not try?

Searching online for more material other than textbooks, I was amazed by the number and quality of free Mandarin lessons for beginners available on YouTube. It was reassuring to find that you don’t have to read characters to learn basic conversation. At this initial stage, Pinyin (the transliteration in Roman letters used by first and second grade Chinese kids), is good enough for an adult beginner. The lessons all seemed pragmatic, starting from the ‘Ni Hao’ (Hello), basic polite expressions at introduction, numbers, shopping, ordering food in a restaurant etc. Surprisingly, relative to other languages I know, I found Chinese to be an easy language – no conjugation! A verb may have a single form for all persons and tenses. That was certainly encouraging. Seven tutoring sessions in both Jerusalem and Vancouver added some more personal sentences to my limited range: ‘I teach Hebrew (Sibolayu). I translate Arabic literature (Albowen). I am from Israel (Yiselie), Jerusalem (Yelusaleng) and live in Canada (Janada), Vancouver (Wengehua).

I arrived at Beijing in September, and very quickly was dismayed because Beijiners did not understand my Chinese. Who said that Chinese is easy? If English was not an option (e.g. taxi drivers, grocery stores), I had to resort to sign language and printed addresses in Chinese characters. Pleco, the app on my newly-bought Chinese smartphone, came to my rescue! It translates both ways between Pinyin Chinese and English, gives you the tone indicator, the Chinese character, and even allows you to listen to two different people pronouncing each word. If the store seller did not understand that I was looking for an electric air purifier (a must in Beijing),

I showed them my phone screen. Little by little through the first semester, while my students were progressing with their Hebrew, I was slowly starting to recognize some characters: “people, woman, child, good, exit, vehicle, fire, water, north, west, university, Beijing, the numbers 1-10”, etc. My reading vocabulary, was approaching one hundred characters. Still, it did not make me better understood. Weekly lessons offered to us at the university, were not intensive enough to be significant. So, when the long winter break came, I enrolled in a daily two-hour beginners’ course for 5 weeks. My classmates are all in their twenties working in Beijing or spending a short time traveling through China. This course too is very pragmatic, covering much of what I already knew, speaking out loud with precise tones. This is a major challenge – not only for me at the end of my sixties,but there is certainly an improvement. The course emphasized writing and recognizing characters. Writing is fun. You can follow stroke instructions and, produce a legible, (even attractive) character, but you might not remember how to reproduce it later! Luckily, you are still allowed to write in Pinyin.

As the weeks go on, I find to my surprise, that I can manage to read a long paragraph printed in characters. The text is simple. I have to refer to the textbook, the indispensable Pleco, as well as educated-guessing based on context, for the first or second time; but by the third time, I am reading Chinese. Hurray! And I am not doing worse than the younger students. They may have better aptitude, but I may be compensating for that with better learning strategies based on my experience. Recently, I have been understood when asking for a smaller size sweater I like, exclaiming that this hat is too expensive, telling the taxi driver to turn right just before the bridge, or asking the grocer if she has bananas or tomatoes today. Believe it or not, in Beijing I have neglected my regular Tai Chi exercises, but I am trying to keep my brain fit. Is learning Chinese a good way to do it? At least as good as Sudoku.

Xin Nian Kuaile – Happy New Year!
Rahel Halabe, Beijing.