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. . .*sniff sniff* Not many people online today...
. . .Argh... Need a life... ... what I really need is a Mandarin-native speaker with near-scholarly understanding of the Chinese written language with enough free time to be assaulted with my multitudes of questions (and conversation practices) While I'm not in class. Which is a large majority of the day.
. . .Apparently, I've developed this alarming ability to learn how to read and write a Chinese character, and know exactly what it means in whichever various circumstances, but have no idea how to pronounce it. I blame this ability on my years of studying Japanese.
. . .Speaking of which, I ought to e-mail that prof. regarding her research, which is apparently right up my alley! (I'm supposed to write an essay-type thing in which I compare the difference in writing systems between the Chinese and Japanese, the history/development of each system, how using each system is psychologically manifest, the advantages and disadvantages of using either system, etc. It ought to be worth the 150 hours of research I'm devoting to it.
. . .My Mandarin-language acquisition is an on-going process. If I only learned 20 words/phrases a day... ... better make that a hundred. Haha... In theory, I have at least another 2000-3000 words to learn before being able to claim to be literate in Chinese. If only I had a list of words/phrases from which to go on... ... sifting through a textbook is boring and tedius. (Learning may be natural, but my learning/studying habits aren't. :P)
. . .Boooh... drizzling outside. it's like walking through mist. Only instead of that dreamy, ethereal feeling of cleansiness, it's more like walking through layers of wet lint/dust/dirt, coupled with the aromatic odour of a bazillion cars' exhaust fumes.
. . .Funny... ... Suddenly reminded of a dear friend of mine, and I'm really worried about her, all of a sudden. I'm not sure why, entirely. Guess I'll write an e-mail and see how she's doing.