Ni Hao

I did promise an update on my Mandarin Chinese course and the above title is just about all I feel 100% comfortable saying after 4 months of classes.
What's my excuse, you ask, since I am such a 'cunning linguist' as I often announce? Well, for one, the course is once a week, and in order to learn any language, the experts will say that this is not enough to absorb much of anything. Secondly, this is the hardest language I've ever undertaken. The written language is pictorial (characters), not phonetic and the spoken language is easy enough, except for the 4 different tones they've added, just to confuse and embarrass us non-Chinese.
So for example: 'ma' pronounced with tone going down is 'horse'; and 'ma' with tone going up is 'mother'. So every time you call your mother, there's a risk you're lumping her in with the equine species. (That won't get you any cookies, my friend!)

Another example is: "I criticize your leather drum carried on horseback" is translated as:

"Wo pi pi pi." ( the 'pi' pronounced in different up, down and flat tones)

Not that you'd say that phrase very often, but still, a telling example!

Our teacher recently informed us that come September, they'd offer a cost-based course for those who've already taken the current course and another free taster course for beginners. We're not cheap, but going back to the beginning again appealed to most of us who'd felt like they'd only absorbed 10% of what they'd been taught!