literacy goals

My first trip to Hong Kong as an adult left me feeling a deep sense of belonging; my second trip to Hong Kong as an adult sparked a desire in me to become literate in Chinese - a spark that has ignited growth, connection and discoveries in my life that I couldn’t have even imagined at the time ... Stories that will unfold over time as I write this blog.

When I started this journey towards literacy, I could identify just over ten characters. For my fellow Canto-enthusiasts, that would be my numbers one through ten, 上, 林, 大 and 山. I couldn’t even read or write my own name. So pretty much as basic as you can get.

Have you heard of the saying “work smarter, not harder”? Well, I definitely didn’t work smarter. Instead, I spent two years trying to memorize radicals*, giving myself weekly "spelling tests", and translating stories word-by-word to try to increase my vocabulary. Everyone has to start somewhere though, right?

I will say though, that learning radicals has been useful as it serves like a mnemonic device when I come across new characters now, but it was painfully uninspiring and I still haven’t memorized all of them! Of course, I was doing this in my “spare time” between taking care of a baby and eventually working a full-time job, as well, but it was really slow progress!

Fast forward to today - just over three years and another baby later - and I’m able to read at least 1500 characters. I can read basic books and graded readers**. I can write full paragraphs on a number of different topics and yes, I can read and write my name now － 林影曦. I would say I’m in the “early literacy” stages and definitely still have a long way to go, but it has been so rewarding to see some real progress! 加油！

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*sort of like the 200+ “building blocks” that are used in different combinations to make thousands of Chinese characters

**beginner chapter books that use repetition to solidify learning but still hold a decent plot and have a lot of built-in learning resources