In the Lingnan area, on the third day of the third month in the lunar year, there is a gathering of young men and women.
They form two lines, one male and one female. They play with a bal of knotted five-coloured silk cloth. They toss this ball to and fro while singing in a gesture called fei tuo.
Messages are conveyed by eye contact between the young men and the young women. If a girl chooses to catch the ball, a marriage is probable.
I (Graeme, Ed of Kaixin with Xiaosui) am a mature age adult and I have never been good a learning a language.
I studied online for 5 years and I knew a LOT about how to speak Chinese.
BUT, I could not speak it!
Then I met a wonderful woman who is to be my wife.
She spoke little English so I had to stumble through my rudimentary Chinese.
She is very very patient and I was soon speaking with some fluency. It was still simple Chinese and I am sure many of the tones are wrong, but she can understand.
I then realized that if I had done that from the very beginning I would be fluent by now.
You can't learn a language by just studying it.
You have to use it from the very beginning.
So don't waste 5 years like I did, start with an online tutor from eteacher and you will soon be speaking your new language fluently.
Chinese Students, the same applies to you. You will not learn English UNLESS you use it.
Xiaosui's Books
Kindle Edition $4.99
Xiaosui (Ed of Kaixin) grew up during the Cultural Revolution. These are personal stories about those times and of the wisdom she learned from her father, who taught her "how to face the life."