In the last week, two people have told me that... my mandarin's not very good. You have to understand, this is a huge step forward. If your chinese really stinks, everyone will say it's great.
For example, a bunch of my students realized recently that i can speak a bit of chinese, 'cause i had to call the computer tech during class. After class, one student was so amazed at my luxurious language skills because i could correctly identify the words "window," "map," and "door."
On the other hand when you can more or less explain why the Chinese Olympics were ok, but the Vancouver Olympics are a swindle, people will be more inclined to shake their heads and roll their eyes at your deficiencies in listening comprehension or inability to say words like "pants" or "cooked."
Seriously, how many times in a month do you use the word "arm"? i don't know how much energy i can invest trying to remember all these basics.
As a side note, i've weirdly been speaking more french lately than i have in years.
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