It'd be so much easier if I was in China You know, learning a foreign language can be a bitch sometimes. Learning a language like Mandarin Chinese and not living in China feels like a distinct disadvantage. Having lived in China, I know this firsthand. While in China, so many people had little to no English, so whether i liked it or not, I was forced to use it. From a learning experience, this is invaluable. But I no longer live in China, I live in Australia - in Melbourne. Melbourne has thousands of Chinese here - literally. Students, residents who have moved here, there are certain parts of the city that you could be forgiven if you forgot you weren't in Asia. As I walk around the city, I see so many Chinese, I hear so much Chinese being spoken, and yet I never use it. When I eat in Chinese restaurants, or deal with someone Chinese, I use English. Funnily enough, the only time I might use some Chinese is if I'm getting a back massage or something, where if the masseur is chatty then it might become a bit of banter - where i'll drop some Mandarin which breaks the ice, and I love the experience. There's nothing quite like learning another cultures language for breaking through cultural barriers. Though in saying that, I rarely use it here. The most common reason is, my Chinese is simply not good enough. I know a lot - I sometimes even impress/surprise myself with just how much I do know, but it's like a vast series of unconnected islands, where i'm trying to hop between them but the distance is too great. I'm missing a lot of the in-between words, the filler, the vocabulary to bridge it all together. My next goal in learning Chinese is vocabulary. I've recently read that Pimsleur (an amazing language tool) has released a 4th version which focuses on vocab. I've toyed with the idea of labeling everything in my apartment with the Chinese word, just so I'm exposed to it. But somehow, I just never get around to starting. I've written about this before, but the motivation to keep learning, to keep improving, is just so difficult. I just wish it was easier to talk to people in person with things such as language exchange. I have a lot of people, who over the years I've spent many hours talking to, using things such as pinyin and spoken Chinese as often as possible - even in Chinglish - where i'll fill in any gaps with English, it all helps. I've learned a lot thsi way. In the process, I've also met some great people - some, not so great. But the battle continues. The mountain that is Mandarin