Almost one in three of you is here for reasons of personal growth. We know this because we ask you on the registration form. What we don’t know is what ‘personal growth’ means to you. If you are here for personal growth, I’d be very happy to hear from you.
There are many possible interpretations of ‘personal growth’, so I’d like to know yours. It could mean intellectual edification, or it could have more to do with a sense of achievement/success (including the business sense). Does it mean these things to you? Does self-esteem come into it? How about idealism? The desire to impress Is personal growth the same thing as self-improvement to your mind� Or is it something more practical? Do you perhaps see yourself some day moving to China and starting a new life?
If this is all too personal, I’d still like to hear from you – you don’t need to sign your comment! The more we understand you, the more we can help you.
Ken Carroll
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
For me, personal growth means literally growth. Not that I expect to get any taller, or fatter, but I do expect to grow a few brain cells and reinvigorate the ones that are lying idle.
Recently it has been discovered that new brain cells do form during our lives (when I studied brains we thought they couldn’t), and there is also recent evidence that the loss of brain power that comes with ageing can be avoided by learning new things. The newer, and the more of it, the better. One of the most effective types of learning for this purpose is second language learning, probably because it uses so many different parts of the brain in new ways. Take that to the extreme, and you’re looking for a non-European language with a very different culture. For practical reasons it’s good to speak a language that lots of others on earth speak. Throw in a very strange new writing system and a long intersting history, and it all points to one language. Chinese is the obvious way to maintain brain growth in our Autumn years.
What I can’t explain, though, is why I wanted to learn it twenty years ago when there were no resources available for me to do so. Back then my brain cells were young and into everything they could consume, so it wasn’t for growth. So why did I want to learn it then? I can’t remember. Oh, wait… maybe it was… Greek?
Personal growth to me is about doing everything possible to put yourself in a position where you have choices. With the world becoming more globalized there are alot of opportunities. I could sit back and enjoy the job that I have now and just “coast”, but with the way things are going I don’t want to be caught behind the curve when the business environment changes (actually, it’s already happening). Learning Chinese is fun and keeps my brain going.
There are alot of people around me who really don’t see the China opportunity, in fact some are even threatened by it (I’m in the software development profession here in the US). You can wait around to see what happens, but I believe doing so will force you into a position where you have no choice. How can you compete against a country that produces more engineers that will work longer and harder at a fraction of the cost? It’s worrisome that this country still places more emphasis on the touch down, than on math/sciences. Personal growth in this case, is learning Chinese, learning to adapt to a new business environment and to differentiate yourself such that your skills are transportable globally.
For my fellow engineering buddies in the US who are counting on the government to “protect” you. Good luck.
If I was out to impress anyone, I’d take up one of the local American Indian languages here in the midwest of the USA (think Chinese without ANY standard orthography whatsoever).
My goals are humble. I want to cultivate a news-oriented vocabulary (something that CPOD lesson plans don’t really help with) so that I can listen to general radio and read a newspaper enough to get the gist. I have no driving urge to learn how to write well. I do study basic hanzi and use worksheets, but my eye is more on gaining visual recognition. A close second is basic conversational skills. I am not looking much farther ahead than that. I’m a big believer in accumulating “mini-goals”. We’ll see where that leads me. Perhaps I’ll develop a love for Tang poetry along the way. Who knows?
My motive? Simple curiosity. Studying a language is a conduit for examination most all other aspects of another culture.
For me the term “personal growth” was summed up by Alfred Lord Tennyson many years ago in a poem called “Ulysses”:
Come my friends ’tis not too late to seek a newer world,
Strike out, and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows,
For my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset
And the baths of all the western stars
Until I die…
In short, I am planning to be the most well rounded shade in the cemetery
“I am planning to be the most well rounded shade in the cemetery” — Nice!
Personal growth for me is not about impressing anyone, but to keep life interesting. My first and foremost reason to learn Chinese is Chinese calligraphy. This art form has held my interest and fascination for a long time, and, while it is possible to appreciate it without knowing any Chinese, it becomes all the more interesting when you can decipher what it says. (Or, well, when you can decipher a few characters here and there, as the situation is now.)
But beyond that, what better feeling is there than to go to sleep at night after having learnt something during the day? I feel quite useless otherwise.
Personal growth? Ken, good question. Self esteem? No. Idealism? No. Desire to impress? No interest. Improve your mind? Ken, I don’t think you can improve your mind from what it is, per se, only continuously adjust your view of the world and your expectations of yourself and others.
For me, China is like heroine – there’s a part of me that wished I’d never tried it. I’ve been going to China (Shanghai mostly) regularly and frequently since 2000. Over time it’s become a part of me and I’m now stuck with it. I love China. I love the Chinese people, with all their faults. Yes, really! I don’t understand it, particularly, and, heaven knows, I’ve tried.
People will have various reasons for having a demonstrable interest in China. For some , studying Chinese could be cerebral, an entirely rational outcome of global-trend analysis – their own little personal “5-year plan”. And good luck to them, if that’s what they want. But for me, it’s primordial; the stern hand of compulsion.
I started learning Chinese for a variety of reasons:
a.) Strong interest in Chinese culture. I’ve always had the interest but it came in full force after I took an East Asian History class at my university.
b.) I thought there was no excuse for graduating college and not learning a second language. I studied four years of Spanish in high school (Can barely make a sentence now) so I was exempt from the university foreign language requirement. At the beginning of my fourth year (of 5) I realized I was going to graduate from a good university without taking any language classes. Since my interest in Chinese was in full force I decided to take the first semester (which then led to the second semester).
c.) I knew Chinese would be a challenge (I do like a good challenge). After learning that different tones had different meaning, hearing the language spoken, looking at Chinese characters, the language seemed so rich to me.
d.) I had always planned to spend an extended period of time in another country. The more I learned about China and Chinese the more it seemed like the perfect fit.
e.) The fact that it would be useful for any future career, that it’s the most spoken language in the world, that i would be able to order dumplings in a restaurant, it helps your brain, those were all just bonuses.
Now two and a half years later:
I’m incredibly happy with my progress. (I recently got a 7 on the HSK).
I’ve been living in China for a year and a half (much longer than originally planned)
I’ve discovered a new field of interest that I never had before (that is language and linguistics)
I’m still addicted to it (The more I learn the stronger my desire is to learn more)
I want to keep going with other languages. (Right now i’m trying to choose between Cantonese, Japanese, and Spanish, all of which I hope to learn eventually).
Midlife crisis….. and just because it is there (and increasingly in your face) …..
Luckily it already seems to have made me smarter, scared the living daylights out of all my work collegues (who now realise I was serious), made a young Chinese woman in a shop wave and giggle at me like a schoolgirl (not a common event these days) and there is the remotest of hints that it may further my career. Niiiicccceeee.
Those good enough reasons for me, Chris…amaze your friends and terrify your enemies
I want to be able to read the daily newspaper in Chinese and converse about the news in Mandarin. This is my suggestion for the Upper Intermediate lessons, discussion of current events! Bird flu! Entry into the WTO! Is there a concern that the topics would be too political and The Man would crack down on Chinesepod? If so, maybe the current event topics could focus on international news outside of China, like the war in Iraq or the 9/11 anniversary.
One thing is for sure, I consider Chinesepod a key part of my personal growth.
My uncle, now a music teacher in the western U.S., once lived in Israel for a number of years. While he was there, he learned Greek, Hebrew and even Aramaic. He studied to better understand the nuances and depth of the Bible, which was originally written in those three languages. The lesson I took from this is that, to better understand a culture and the philophies of the people therein, you have to truly speak their language. I applied this to the Chinese culture of course, as it is this I’m interested in.
I’ve lived in the U.S. all my life and I know how “we” think. Having visted China before (and again next month), and having experienced a hint of perspective from which to view my own country, and my own attitude, I can’t wait to experience more.
Personal growth, to me, is escaping from the typical American lifestyle and living the Chinese lifestyle, at least for a while. As a much more mature country, I think I could learn a few things from them, which will help me become a better person. Eventually, I’d like to live in a remote part of China to help educate, feed and clothe the poor. I think then is when I’ll find completeness.
SHARON IN SEATTLE: http://www.adsotrans.com/news/
You’re welcome.
When I initially decided to learn chinese, the first (and only) reason was for professional achivement. Now, after one year almost, I have to reckon than chinese has captured my interest. I like China and I like to learn chinese, and I think that the main reason for it is because you know how to teach the language. Your method makes the student to be in loved with the matter.
Some great stuff here. Not surprisingly, these answers are philosophical/poetic. Some of you mention that you’d like to be able to read newspapers/mags or listen to the news, etc, in Chinese but without saying in detail why. Care to go a little deeper there? Others see personal growth in the context of an emerging China, where knowing the language has practiical benefits.
My own reasons for learning Chinese were (a) I had moved in a Chinese environment, so it would be bad not to be able to converse and (b) I thought it would be interesting to compare it with the Euorpean languages I had studied. I guess this was a combination of the intellectual and the practical.
I sneaked in a question about ‘impressing people’. I knew no-one would express it that way, but expressed differently, I think it can be a powerful motivating factor for learners. I’ve seen in the classroom how many learners are motivated by the need to win the approval of others. When kids, for example, don’t get this approval from the parents they sometimes grow up looking for it elsewhere. I think this emotion can be sublimated into positive action and achievement, sometimes expressed in the “I’ll show them?” mode.
Ken Carroll
I’ll tell you one thing: learning Chinese has completely screwed up my French. I just can’t think in French anymore. Every time I try, it ends up being half-Chinese – like I’ve got a compartment in the brain called “foreign language” that only has room for one. It’s a minor irritation. Anyone else feel this?
I want to learn to write love letters in Chinese.
Geoff, What you need to do is keep speaking/practicing French as well as Chinese. With practice at ‘code switching’ your brain will adjust to the difference.
Lilli, now that’s a good reason!
Ken Carroll
I think Ken is right about the “impressing people” part, to an extent. While that may be the beginning motivation for someone to learn a foreign language, I believe the same could be said for pursuing an advanced degree or any other worthy goal. In the end, however, I think it ends up being a contest more for yourself than anything else.
As Baz Luhrman put it, “The race is long, but in the end, it’s only with yourself”.
My initial motivation for learning Chinese was to understand what my wife is saying when talking to my mother in law…does that count as personal growth?
After a while it became a reason for itsself. First of all it would be a pity to give up half way (or 0.000001 way). Second I got hooked. Just like playing a videogame, or reading a good novel.
My motivation is more or less equal parts:
- Challenge
- Personal Growth (in this case meaning stopping my brain from turning to mush)
- Enjoyment of Chinese culture
- It’s almost expected of me as a language nut (some of my friends greet me with “What language are you learning today?”
- Useful when doing a PhD in Chinese linguistics…
Make more money….and it apprears to be working
Ralph, maybe you could share your secrets, i.e. personal growth through making money!
Ken Carroll
Thank you to Fu Da-Wei for the link to adsotrans news!
Here’s why I’m personally interested in hearing more on news amd current events: I’m a journalist. I like reading news first-hand, even if it’s written by a government agency. If I ever live in China, I would probably be doing journalism.
More lessons on current events would benefit the rest of the intermediate Chinesepod students since people tend to talk about current events in everyday conversation – the new railroad to Tibet, WTO, bird flu, 9/11, etc. As the “News” lesson said, watching CCTV’s 7p broadcast is like a national habit. I enjoy almost all the lessons Chinesepod produces, but I know I would use vocabulary on exotic animals less frequently than, for example, a lesson discussing the rabies scare and dog killings in the provinces.
Other personal growth – I like being able to converse in Chinese when I’m in China. I also like stimulating my brain in ways that are different from what I do at work. Also, keeps me from watching too much bad TV.
I had been exposed to and interested in foreign cultures and languages since a very young age, but as I got further along in school, I found that it was just my best subject. That led me to study a number of other languages, including majoring in a language, and I think for me language learning is like that ad for potato chips: “you can’t eat just one”. The reason why Chinese became my target language was simply business. The company I worked for dealt alot with Chinese immigrants and Chinese professionals, and it was difficult for them to deal with both groups, and I noticed alot of misunderstanding between them. I suggested to the co-worker who dealt most with them to learn a little of the language to make her job easier, but when that didn’t go over well, I realized I had the foreign language major so it would be easy and more appropriate for me to take my own suggestion and help out in the department when those tenants called. Once I was exposed to the language, especially the written language, I found it to be relaxing and personally appealling, so when the job ended due to a management shakeup, I kept playing with it for a number of years at the elementary level. It was only after 9-11 that I realized my skills were needed, that this wasn’t Basketweaving 101, so I decided to go for a professional level in the language. Although I want to eventually work with the language, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up my motivation without an aspect of personal growth to it. It’s just too much time and energy to waste only for money or for dry subjects for a job. So for personal reading, I’m trying to look for materials covering aspects of the country that aren’t likely to make their way into translation in the West, maybe more artsy types of things, definitely newspapers, some science, maybe some fiction.
As for impressing people with your language study, I find that to be a fairly rare reaction. Children usually are fascinated by it, but in my experience, that’s about all of the adulation you get from most people regarding your choice of hobby, and it gets worse the further east you go in target language. I don’t even remember a lot of enthusiasm about it when I studied European languages. Maybe it’s different if you spend a lot of time with academics, other language lovers or highly educated people, but I normally don’t, so they frequently question it. So instant ego-boost it is not. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. You have to be very strong in yourself to not get discouraged by it and take up something “more appropriate” to fit the cultural mold, especially to meet expectations about how a woman should spend her time.
On the topic of learning Chinese to impress people, I suppose there is a “sexiness” to Chinese at the moment as China, the sleeping giant is starting to wake up and if it were Icelandic that was the flavour of the month there would be cohort drawn to that too.
I think an important element of the classroom setup is that there is a mixture of “collaboration/competition” and when someone makes a simple mistake you can’t help thinking “I wouldn’t have made that clumsy error”. So the competition is there to not look stupid but also collaboration to able to ask simple questions. However at Chinesepod, if you’d allow me a criticism, we could be all sitting at home naked learning chinese cause it impacts us very little how others percieve us but while competition is low, collaboration is high and the post-match analysis that follows each podcast is perfect communing – it is almost strange how cordial it all is. But then there is no prize being competed for and the devoted c-podders are highly self-motivated – like journeymen, it seems, travelling together trying to achieve a level of Chinese that 1.5 billion people already have attained (when they are/were boys and girls!).
My main reason for learning chinese is to be understood when in China. But I fear I may never reach the level of fluency which would allow me to achieve that. It’s true of any language that native speakers will always look somewhat patronizingly as they smile with encouragement.
To give an example, there is a recurring sketch in Little Britain, the British Comedy series – a weight-watchers group led by a plump lady (male comedian dressed as a women) who is so incredibly patronizing to everyone and there is an Indian lady in the group who speak perfect English and despite this she cannot be understood by the group leader – “Come again” “one more time” “sorry!” sorry!” she says as gets the Indian lady to repeat her comment which she does faultlessly but to no avail. It is hilarious but I am not sure why, perhaps it is because she does not look ‘English’ that she cannot be understood by a person who epitemises being ‘English’. Perhaps there are parallels to be drawn in the learning of chinese as we test-drive newly acquired lingo in the real world.
What I do ask myself more and more often: Who will stay after the China-boom is over? After an economic downturn when the hype is gone? Maybe that sounds pessimistic but I feel more and more uneasy about that “never ending boom” (Wired headline shortly before the burst of the New Economy bubble). Who is motivated enough to keep going anyway even when the “sexieness” of growth is replaced once again by sneering and arrogance in the western public opinion? Only if there are enough of those not being demotivated something like a sustainable development might occur…
Eddie,
I think you hit on something that I have always wondered about. It always seems to me like Chinese people appear a bit startled when I speak to them in Chinese. I am sure that part of that is because of my poor pronunciation or my tones. Nevertheless, it seems as though the last thing that they expect is a foreigner to be addressing them in Chinese. I generally have to repeat myself a couple times before I see the light of recognition in their eyes. After that there doesn’t seem to be as much of a problem. Perhaps visual impact has more of an effect on language than we generally realize.
Yeah, Bob,somtimes I think that when Chinese people talk to one another it is like table tennis; fast-paced, rhythmic, a little agressive and it happens so fast there is no chance to think, it is instinctive, built on a thousands of repetitions of having done it right. When they talk to foreigners it is as though the foreigner turns up with a tennis racquet and hold it with both hands! The rhythm is disturbed and the chinese person can’t believe your are about to try play with a tennis racquet as you wave it around awkwardly, so they smile but the experience is weird.