A Week of "请再说一遍?"

"请再说一遍?"

After two weeks in Middlebury, I would argue that this phrase is the most useful of them all.

"Can you please say that again?"

Whether the teacher spoke too quickly or you got lost after the first word, "请再说一遍" will solve all your problems.

The phrase could be compared to the idea of "If at first you don't succeed, try again."

And man, was this week that kind of week: A week of highs and lows.

On Wednesday, I went into my 一对一 (One-on-One) ready to show my professor the progress I was making.

Well, that didn't happen.

Instead, she asked me if I had prepared questions from the lesson. Oops, I had no idea that was the expectation. So I stumbled through the grammatical phrases and managed a few questions while my cheeks turned red.

Not my best day.

But on Thursday, this was my second chance. I had practiced. I had questions ready to ask. And so, for twenty minutes I talked with the professor, asking and answering questions.

Yay! I can do this.

Long story short, language learning is hard. Some days I feel like I can really do this. Other days, I feel like Chinese is a language I will never comprehend.

But when all else fails, I simply ask "Can you say that again?" The only way to succeed is to try again.

And so, I failed many times this week. Many red marks on my homework, lack of tones when I spoke, and incorrect grammar in conversation.

BUT, I also succeeded many times this week. I got 100% on a quiz, I laughed with a professor when I accidentally said "urine" instead of "milk," and I ended the week by writing an essay about my dad.

Couldn't get any better than that.