30DAYCHALLENGE - day 5
the learning process
rating: g
pairing: chen-centric, mot6
notes: non au
prompt: 05/30 - haze
chinese is not the easiest language to learn at all. this, jongdae knows, he definitely knows. the different characters are so much more complex than korean, and the different tones require an articulation that his mother tongue never demanded of him.
as he learns, he tries to speak it as much as possible, repeating words to himself until the tones are perfect.
lu han eagerly helps him memorise simple phrases, translating bits and pieces from the chinese commercials on tv. minseok studies with him when they both have time. yixing teaches him the names of things around them, pointing at this and that and telling him what they are in mandarin. kris speaks mandarin to him when they’re together and jongdae does his best to respond in intelligible sentences back, the leader smiling warmly and nodding when he gets the words right. zitao watches wuxia films with him, stumbling over words as he tries to explain some things in his broken korean, but jongdae appreciates the effort the most, knowing the boy is trying his best since he’s still learning.
just like him.
jongdae wants eagerly to understand the jokes that their chinese members make with each other, to understand the jabs and the passes the mc’s in china make at them. he stays up nights studying the language as much as he can, until everything he reads starts looking chinese to him.
it will be hard. scratch that, it is hard. but he will keep practicing.
when kris goes into the bathroom after his roommate has finished showering, he sees lines of neat chinese characters written into the fogged up glass of the shower. when he returns to the room, jongdae’s already napping next to his chinese notebook.
he gets a sticky note, scrawling as neat as his terrible handwriting allows. he sticks it carefully on the front of jongdae’s notebook and then starts getting ready to sleep himself.
when the younger member wakes up later in the evening, he sees the note. the second character for “sleep” is written this way, chenchen, not like that. don’t worry too much though. jiayou!
he smiles and then joins the rest of them in the living room, sitting down when zitao eagerly pats the spot next to him and nodding along when lu han excitedly translates the commentary of the soccer match on the tv for him and minseok. the both of them can hardly keep up with his enthusiasm and when yixing notices, he swats at lu han’s shoulder, telling him to slow down.
when he pokes fun at kris using a phrase in mandarin, the leader blinks and then laughs with him. yes, learning chinese will be difficult. jongdae knows this, but he also knows that the haze will clear with time.
he doesn’t really mind the learning process, he thinks, as he listens to their conversation, a delightful jumble of mandarin and korean - and the occasional english - filtering through his ears.
rating: g
pairing: chen-centric, mot6
notes: non au
prompt: 05/30 - haze
chinese is not the easiest language to learn at all. this, jongdae knows, he definitely knows. the different characters are so much more complex than korean, and the different tones require an articulation that his mother tongue never demanded of him.
as he learns, he tries to speak it as much as possible, repeating words to himself until the tones are perfect.
lu han eagerly helps him memorise simple phrases, translating bits and pieces from the chinese commercials on tv. minseok studies with him when they both have time. yixing teaches him the names of things around them, pointing at this and that and telling him what they are in mandarin. kris speaks mandarin to him when they’re together and jongdae does his best to respond in intelligible sentences back, the leader smiling warmly and nodding when he gets the words right. zitao watches wuxia films with him, stumbling over words as he tries to explain some things in his broken korean, but jongdae appreciates the effort the most, knowing the boy is trying his best since he’s still learning.
just like him.
jongdae wants eagerly to understand the jokes that their chinese members make with each other, to understand the jabs and the passes the mc’s in china make at them. he stays up nights studying the language as much as he can, until everything he reads starts looking chinese to him.
it will be hard. scratch that, it is hard. but he will keep practicing.
when kris goes into the bathroom after his roommate has finished showering, he sees lines of neat chinese characters written into the fogged up glass of the shower. when he returns to the room, jongdae’s already napping next to his chinese notebook.
he gets a sticky note, scrawling as neat as his terrible handwriting allows. he sticks it carefully on the front of jongdae’s notebook and then starts getting ready to sleep himself.
when the younger member wakes up later in the evening, he sees the note. the second character for “sleep” is written this way, chenchen, not like that. don’t worry too much though. jiayou!
he smiles and then joins the rest of them in the living room, sitting down when zitao eagerly pats the spot next to him and nodding along when lu han excitedly translates the commentary of the soccer match on the tv for him and minseok. the both of them can hardly keep up with his enthusiasm and when yixing notices, he swats at lu han’s shoulder, telling him to slow down.
when he pokes fun at kris using a phrase in mandarin, the leader blinks and then laughs with him. yes, learning chinese will be difficult. jongdae knows this, but he also knows that the haze will clear with time.
he doesn’t really mind the learning process, he thinks, as he listens to their conversation, a delightful jumble of mandarin and korean - and the occasional english - filtering through his ears.