This is 110% relatable. I’ve been in Taiwan for two years and I’m still nowhere near fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Since I work in an English speaking environment and 0ave a lot of hobbies outside of work, it’s very hard to take the time to learn. I always thought I was good at learning languages when I realized, all of the languages I’ve studied in the past were Latin and Germanic based, so they were much easier to learn because English is a mixture of both language families. Meanwhile, in Mandarin, I can only think of about five words that sound similar to English.

Despite my poor proficiency, I’ve managed to figure things out and many Taiwanese people have been very patient and helpful and I appreciate it a lot.

Obrigada Diana