What has motivated you in your language journey?

[Ledu]

I think it went from survival > curiosity > a challenge > curiousity/growth. The survival part was all the basic stuff I needed to learn to live in China. I thought at the time that I could be a solid HSK3 level + have a dictionary (Pleco) and be fine. Also most of the expat community I know tend to quit study after HSK4 level. Few also have wanted to go as high as possible though.

 

[Shun]

A very relatable, candid account, thank you! You're a good storyteller, also highlighting the little things that, though seemingly insignificant, can have a big effect on one's motivation to start doing something.

My motivation is my general interest in languages, and for Chinese, in how Chinese sentences are constructed. I also met some Chinese students in a locker room a long time ago, whose way of speaking Mandarin to each other in such an excited manner piqued my interest. I think that Chinese, with its vowels and tones, can also sound very beautiful, whether it's in the spoken language or in songs. There's the huge vocabulary of Mandarin, and the possibility of expressing oneself very precisely and succinctly with it. I also decided that I liked the "vibrations" that come with listening to Chinese—I can't put it in another way right now.

 

[Duan]

I was highly motivated to read handwritten letters after I returned from China, back before word processors, cheap long-distance, or email were a thing for mortals. I believe most of my friends didn't realize how serious I was asking them to write with the strokes clearly countable to this dictionary user.

I was reminded of this today when I got the handwriting font add-on for Pleco. It's really great seeing how characters are written right at the moment when I'm trying to commit them to memory. I'm not trying to learn to write in cursive, just recognize handwritten characters.

I believe I might have kept contact with more of my friends if Pleco had been available.

 

[Ledu]

A very relatable, candid account, thank you! You're a good storyteller, also highlighting the little things that, though seemingly insignificant, can have a big effect on one's motivation to start doing something.

My motivation is my general interest in languages, and for Chinese, in how Chinese sentences are constructed. I also met some Chinese students in a locker room a long time ago, whose way of speaking Mandarin to each other in such an excited manner piqued my interest. I think that Chinese, with its vowels and tones, can also sound very beautiful, whether it's in the spoken language or in songs. There's the huge vocabulary of Mandarin, and the possibility of expressing oneself very precisely and succinctly with it. I also decided that I liked the "vibrations" that come with listening to Chinese—I can't put it in another way right now.

There is a 4 word idiom for everything it seems. It is an interesting way to converse. Thanks.

@Duan as far as cursive goes, I can't read it even with OCR. It can look nice especially if you get into calligraphy.