First step on the Journey into Mandarin Chinese!

Am I crazy? You tell me...

I'm about to embark upon a personal journey into the orient. I'm determined to learn MANDARIN CHINESE! It may take forever, but let's give it a go, hey?

In fact... this idea is so fresh, irrational and spur-of-the-moment that I haven't even started learning yet!

I realise this is not like breaking new ground or doing something absolutely amazing. However, I'm going to blog my progress for the sake of you readers, and for my own future reading pleasure.

Blogging will keep me somewhat accountable, and I'll be forced to at least make some progress for my own dignity.

And so begins my

JOURNEY into MANDARIN!

If you are learning Mandarin Chinese yourself, you might enjoy watching someone else struggle.

Will you pat me on the back and push me along?

So who am I? What kind of student will I be? Here is a TEN POINT profile on myself and my situation:

1. I'm an adult. I'm almost 40 years old as I start this challenge
2. I am married with FIVE kids! (Ages 7 months to 15 years)
3. Although I'm an Australian, I currently live in Siberia.
4. I speak a tiny bit of Dutch, which was the first foreign language I taught myself as a teenager
5. Here in Siberia I am studying Russian at the local university. I guess you could say I'm upper-Intermediate in Russian.
6. My Russian class is full of Chinese students. I will have plenty of language practice opportunities with them!
7. By trade, I'm a graphic designer. Though I also love working with children. I also maintain a handful of other blogs.
8. I have never been to China for longer than a 24 hour stopover.
9. My career goal is to finally teach English online. Knowing Chinese is probably a pretty clever idea for this purpose.
10. As you can imagine, all this makes me a very busy lad with very little time for learning Mandarin Chinese.

Above all this, apart from a good Chinese dictionary, I don't intend to spend a cent on my learning journey.

CAN I DO IT?

Well, I'll have a pretty good crack at it!

Are you learning a language?
Comment below with your study ideas and success stories. Share your list of free resources.

Cya!
Doei!
Пока!