Feeling a little discouraged tonight! Had another Mandarin lesson with my wonderful Tutor; Joy, today! I found out that she is teaching Mandarin to classes of foreigners at Taiwan University, (Tai-da) which is probably the most prestigious University in Taiwan. So she is a very capable, experienced Mandarin Teacher. But her student is quite the opposite. I felt like I was wasting her time today!

I find speaking Mandarin so difficult! I want to quit! I feel like I have gotten to a certain level, which is actually not that high, and to make any more progress is going to be really difficult. I am not looking for sympathy, just having a little grumble on-line…..

But I must admit that I have learned a few new words since being in Taiwan, like;

“niurou mian”;  beef noodles

“niurou fan”;  beef rice

“guote”; a kind of yummy dumpling that are called ‘pot-stickers’ in the USA

etc.  These, of course, are the most important kinds of Mandarin words to know in Taiwan.