rdearman wrote:I wrote a post with suggestions one for someone visiting Russia and they wanted to try and get out and talk. So I gave them a few challenges. You might try those!
Arnaud wrote:You can watch a few "
level-up" videos of Moses McCormick, and see how his relaxed and open-minded attitude makes wonder to speak with complete strangers, even if his level in the majority of the languages is weak. He's relaxed and the whole process is like a game for him.
I like the idea of challenges and I have seen some of Moses’ level up videos before. Unfortunately I can’t see myself being comfortable approaching random strangers just yet (maybe I can make that a longer term challenge for me to work towards), but I’m sure I can come up with some ‘missions’ to test myself. Thank you.
Tomás wrote:Can you take lessons in something? Like a group tai chi class, or guitar lessons, or a cooking class. This way you get to practice listening, and can interact with Chinese people who share your interest in that class.
I've managed to sign up for a culture class. It's aimed at international students, but it's taught in Chinese. I expect I'll struggle for a while with my listening but hopefully it will get easier and I'll learn some interesting things along the way.
Cavesa wrote:Well, it sounds to me like you need to pay someone to talk. It is really sad. I was considering the option briefly in France too, but my situation was still much easier.
It is a very unpleasant thought as you have already paid a lot to just study your normal classes there. And it feels crappy, like "am I really such a boring/horrible/unpleasant person, that people don't want to talk to me even under such ideal conditions?"
At this point I’m genuinely considering this option. I’ve found some private tutors here that I can contact and, apparently, there’s a language school that’s nearby. It does seem really silly to pay out for private lessons when I’m already having classes at University but maybe that’s the only way around this for me. It will allow me to study more at my own pace and give me a chance to study different topics to those taught in my Uni classes.
To be fair I probably am a pretty boring person to talk to, but it stills hurts to feel as though I'm always the outsider. It's not just being unable to interact with Chinese people, I also haven't been able to connect with any of the international students here. Other than the occasional polite nod of 'hello' I'm pretty much on my own here. It's still early days though, so I have time to work on it (unfortunately my people skills are probably worse than my listening).
I just wish people would stop telling me how lucky I am that I don't have homework/don't have to study hard. I don't want to just coast through my time here when I know that I can achieve so much more if I try.