Someone asked me:

>>I’m impolite.But I just wanna ask you a question.But how did you get the power to learn Chinese, to try to write a professional book in a foreighn language, just in such a age?

            The answer is long and complicated.  In 2002, I heard a radio program on National Public Radio about the world's languages.  Two people speak Chinese for everyone one who speaks English.  I thought, "If I could speak both Chinese and English, I could talk to almost anyone on earth."  In Feb. 2004 I bought a Chinese phrase book and started studying Chinese.

            I quickly realized my efforts were useless!  I had no idea of how to pronounce Chinese words.  I didn't want to memorize them incorrectly from a book.  I went to the library to see what I could find.  I found several types of language tapes.  I sent the next four years mostly listening to native speakers of Chinese on cassette tapes.

            Then I bought some Chinese flash cards and started memorizing a few words.  This process went very slow.  I knew the sound of the words from my listening practice, and now I began to learn to read a little.  I also hired a tutor.  I only met with my tutor fewer than ten times.  But the lessons were very useful.  I discovered Chinese has compound words like 电脑，电话， 和电视。I had not known that before the tutor told me about it. 

            Even after all this effort, in early 2008, I could only write down about 40 – 50 Chinese words from memory.  But I had gained a very basic level of knowledge of Chinese.  I knew how pinyin worked, I knew what words written in pinyin sounded like, I could type Chinese on my computer, and I’d discovered computerized translation.  But it still took me 4 hours to translate a paragraph of Chinese if I studied each word carefully.

            In 2008, my life changed.  I retired from the US Forest Service where I had worked as a botanist and ecologist.  I started making friends with student from China who were attending the University of Arkansas.  I have taught three of them how to drive, taken eight of them on vacation with my wife and I, and they introduced me to internet connections to China.

            Actually, the actual China connection is funny.  One of my friends from China wanted to find an American girlfriend.  He was very shy and he never did find an American girlfriend.  But in my efforts to help him I found two websites, www dot ok-english dot net and www dot dioenglish dot com (replace the dot with .) where I could practice my Chinese and help others with English.  The people I met there introduced me to QQ and to eventually to lang-8 dot com. 

            These introductions have changed my life.  After I retired in 2008, I was too young to get my full retirement benefits.  Full retirement age in 66 in the USA and I was only 56 at that time.  So, I still needed to work.  I spent some time taking care of family matters.  We remodeled my mother-in-law’s home and cared for her at her home before she died in late 2009.  I started writing books in the summer of 2009 and had a part time job. 

            But my Chinese contacts led me into editing work.  I’ve always been a bit of a writer and editor.  My first newspaper articles were published while I was in college.  I was news editor of my high school newspaper.  But I did many other things (see my blog on my 47 jobs I’ve had).  In the last six months I have become a full time editor (see my website as www dot sedgehead dot com). 

            At the same time, I am a person who sets long term goals.  I have a book due out this year that I started writing in 1991 with the goal of completing it in 2011.  It has been nearly complete since 2005.  When I started learning Chinese, I decided two things.  I knew I could not learn the language quickly and easily so I thought, “I should learn like a child.  I won’t worry about writing.  I was “born” into the Chinese language in 2004.  I will want to start writing when I get “six years old in Chinese.”  That is, I want to listen and speak before I learned to read and write.”

            As I sent my goals for learning Chinese, I kept this idea in mind.  I thought, “In 20 years, when I am 20 years old in Chinese (when I have been studying Chinese for 20 years), I want to be able to write fluently in Chinese.”  I thought, “This is a reasonable goal and one that is very attainable for me.”  Some people want to learn a language in a year or two.  My goals are not that strenuous.  BUT I do have a 20 year long goal!  To reach that goal, like a Chinese student in school, I will need to keep working toward that goal.  Just like my book that is due out in 2011, I have until 2024 to become “completely fluent” in Chinese. 

            In 2024 I will be 72 years old.  Is that a problem? Not at all!  My father lived until he was 84, as did his four brothers 左右.  My mother lived until she was 86.  So at age 72 I will have maybe 15 years to enjoy speaking Chinese fluently.  Am I ambitious?  Probably so.  But I also like to be lazy. That’s why I think like a child.  In 2010 I need to start writing Chinese like a six year old.  By 2015, I need to be as fluent as a Chinese fifth grader.  I don’t graduate from Chinese high school until 2022.  So I have a ways to go!

            So, for my Chinese friends who what to learn English, I would encourage them to outdo me!  Most of the already speak English better than I write Chinese.  Don’t try to master the English language by 2013.  Give yourself some time.  Relax. Enjoy it. Have fun. After all, that’s what life is about.  Don’t just keep your nose to the grindstone. Have some fun on the way.  Enjoy the trip!