After 20+ years in China, you'd think I'd be fluent in Chinese. You'd be wrong. I can only read 100-200 characters (JD can read 3500+) and, although I can speak enough Chinese to buy stuff and travel around, I still can't hold a decent conversation. Part of this is from not actively pursuing foreign language opportunities (I tend to mix with English-speakers - foreign and Chinese - and I don't watch Chinese TV or radio). Part is due to a wife and son who speak English and translate Chinese for me. Part is due to not being good at learning languages and a large part is just laziness.
Another small part, however, is the general lack of standard Mandarin heard here. It was interesting that I understood a lot more spoken Chinese when we were in Beijing on holiday recently. You can see from the map above just how many other dialects and languages are spoken in Yunnan (marked by a red circle). It makes for a very special, diverse Province full of ethnic minorities but it doesn't exactly help with language learning. That's my excuse, anyway!
