The Mandarin Language

Tony has been great about teaching us Mandarin. In the picture above he is using a long van ride as an opportunity for instruction. Monica is by far his star pupil, now able to say hello, thank you, do you speak English?, I'm sorry, I don't speak Mandarin, where is the restroom?, and several other useful phrases.

The tricky thing about mandarin is that there are four tones for every basic sound, and depending on the context each sound/tone combination could have several different meanings. For example "ma" has as many as 8 or 10 different meanings and the sentence "ma ma ma ma" means mother is swearing at a horse.

So, when we think we are saying something correctly, even if we get the sounds right the tones are probably wrong and they look at us quizzically. For the most part, people are patient and friendly and give us credit for trying.