Wèi
Hàn:
My
Journey
to
Learning
Mandarin My
name
is
Wei
Han,
and
I
am
a
proud
Chine『推荐更多 周公解梦常识请关注 :99星座知识网,wWW.ALm99.coM］）se
American.
Growing
up
in
the
United
States,
I
always
felt
a
disconnect
from
my
heritage.
My
parents
spoke
Mandarin
fluently,
but
I
only
knew
a
few
phrases.
As
I
got
older,
I
realized
the
importance
of
reconnecting
with
my
culture,
and
the
best
way
to
do
that
was
to
learn
Mandarin. I
started
my
journey
in
college,
taking
beginner
Mandarin
courses.
It
was
a
struggle
at
first,
with
tones
and
characters
that
were
completely
foreign
to
me.
But
as
I
practiced
more
and
more,
I
began
to
find
joy
in
recognizing
characters
and
understanding
basic
phrases. After
college,
I
was
fortunate
enough
to
teach
English
in
China
for
a
year.
Living
in
a
Mandarin-speaking
environment
forced
me
to
improve
my
speaking
and
listening
skills.
I
was
able
to
have
conversations
with
locals
and
even
make
some
friends. When
I
returned
to
the
United
States,
I
continued
to
study
Mandarin
on
my
own.
I
watched
Chinese
dramas
and
listened
to
Mandarin
music,
trying
to
immerse
myself
as
much
as
possible.
I
also
found
language
exchange
partners
online,
allowing
me
to
practice
speaking
with
native
speakers. Learning
Mandarin
has
transformed
my
relationship
with
my
culture.
I
feel
a
stronger
sense
of
pride
and
connection
to
my
heritage,
and
I
am
grateful
for
the
ability
to
communicate
in
a
language
that
is
so
important
to
me.
It
has
also
opened
up
many
opportunities
for
me,
whether
it
be
connecting
with
Chinese
colleagues
or
traveling
to
China
with
more
ease. To
anyone
interested
in
learning
Mandarin,
I
encourage
you
to
start
small
and
be
patient
with
yourself.
The
journey
may
be
challenging,
but
it
is
also
incredibly
rewarding.
Who
knows,
maybe
you'll
find
a
deeper
connection
to
your
culture
along
the
way,
just
like
I
did.