...all in Mandarin! As I mentioned before, I'm currently enrolled in an intensive Mandarin language program at Jiao Tong University. What does intensive mean? Well, it's 4 hours of class a day, 5 days a week, followed by about 2-4 hours of studying each day just to keep up. I'm learning to read and write Hanzi (Simplified Chinese Characters), and hopefully one day figure out how to put all the vocabulary I've been cramming into the proper grammatical structure and speak! I know how to say a few useful phrases, but I'm still mainly only able to say one or two words at a time. Good news, the few words I am able to say are helping make ordering food a bit easier!
For the past few months I've been walking past a street side vendor staring at these large bamboo steamers, and watching people buy steamed buns. The signs are completely in Chinese, and so I didn't know how to ask for the plain steamed bun...until recently. We were in class, and went over food vocabulary. It was the BEST day ever when I figured out how to say the word for plain steamed bread - mántou.
I decided to try my limited language skills out the other day...
你好! 有 没有馒头? Hello! Do you have plain steamed bread?
有. Yes, have. 我要两个. I'll take two.
多少钱? How much?
SUCCESS! Two plain steamed buns for $0.24USD.
My first successful purchase fully in Chinese! It only took me 6 weeks of class and I don't know how many hours of studying...
- Trisha