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If you practice Taichi, you are exposed to some Chinese. Some of the names and some instructions are done in Chinese. As a person who studied English as a foreign language I understand how difficult it can be to learn a new language, especially as an adult. Well after I learned it, I realized (a bit too late for me, but may not be for you) the problem may not be because we are “old” and can’t learn new “tricks”. It might be because the approach for most foreign language learning is not appropriate for adults.
After studying English for many years and have taught it as a foreign language for many year; and after translating many books from Chinese to English, I realized one thing – Chinese and English are the SAME language in term of language structure. Okay. not exactly the same – about 80% the same. BUT, if you can communicate at about 80% level in both language, it might be just enough in many occasions.
So, for 80% of the time you want to say something, you can simply put the words of from either Chinese and English and they will means the same thing! Just different words! You may sound funny to native speakers but you will be understood. In order to do that, you need to simplify your sentence. Talk in Hemingway style.
I have helped Chinese speaking people to learn English this way and I would like to try helping English speaking people to learn Chinese the same way. Who knows, it might work! (Who=shei (谁), knows=zhidao (知道), it=ta(它), might=yexu (也许), work=haoshi (好使)! (!=!)
Watch out for classes coming soon…..