House of Flying Phrases
A few weeks ago, mollyx and I rented "House of Flying Daggers" and "Million Dollar Baby" from our local Hollywood Video. Alas, we have been sufficiently tardy in returning them that we likely owe more than they're worth in late fees at this point. But gosh darn, if we're gonna pay for 'em, we're gonna watch 'em!
I watched it last night, and, lo and behold, I actually understood much of the language! I'd been watching the Mandarin news, as it's the only Mandarin programming I can watch regularly, but on the news they speak very quickly and are talking about current events, many of which use either obscure Chinese words, or English words that are chopped into syllables and squeezed into whatever Chinese syllables sound something even remotely similar. Getting anything out of that was difficult. Understanding more "conversational" Mandarin was much, much easier.
Don't get me wrong... It's not like I could watch the thing without subtitles or anything, but I'd have to say now that my Mandarin knowledge is probably on par with my Spanish knowledge, and slightly behind my French. Not bad after only a few months, eh?
Oh, and mollyx: Remember how you said the DVD just stopped in the middle? Well, it did that for me, too. Then I wiped the DVD off with a paper towel and it worked just fine. But if you haven't seen the end of the movie yet, you must! If your viewing crapped out where mine did, you haven't even gotten to the good part yet!
I watched it last night, and, lo and behold, I actually understood much of the language! I'd been watching the Mandarin news, as it's the only Mandarin programming I can watch regularly, but on the news they speak very quickly and are talking about current events, many of which use either obscure Chinese words, or English words that are chopped into syllables and squeezed into whatever Chinese syllables sound something even remotely similar. Getting anything out of that was difficult. Understanding more "conversational" Mandarin was much, much easier.
Don't get me wrong... It's not like I could watch the thing without subtitles or anything, but I'd have to say now that my Mandarin knowledge is probably on par with my Spanish knowledge, and slightly behind my French. Not bad after only a few months, eh?
Oh, and mollyx: Remember how you said the DVD just stopped in the middle? Well, it did that for me, too. Then I wiped the DVD off with a paper towel and it worked just fine. But if you haven't seen the end of the movie yet, you must! If your viewing crapped out where mine did, you haven't even gotten to the good part yet!