<p>Sigh…I find it embarrasing that I can speak french better than chinese.</p>
<p>Bah! I’m jealous of all of you Chinese-speaking people!</p>
<p>WillDO, you seem to speak languages other than English too right… I wonder what languages can you speak and what languages do your parents speak at home?</p>
<p>nikkei325i, ahahahah i’m also jealous of you native born English speaker swho speak, read, write English perfectly. What other languages do you speak, nikkei325i?</p>
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<p>I’m in the process of learning Japanese (although I’m still a the amateur level) and attempting to learn Mandarin whenever I can. Hopefully, by the time I get back from my 1 month stay in Japan this summer, I will be able to speak at a lower-intermediate level.</p>
<p>Kevin 101, you seem to have english down pretty well. I’m impressed.</p>
<p>We speak cantonese at home, but I mainly speak english for my everyday routine.</p>
<p>Sandkicks, thanks 
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<p>WillDO, I see… you are those ABC kids? j/k :D</p>
<p>Nikkei, you will be enjoying the fun of learning a new language; trust me, it is very self-rewarding and overcoming a new language barrier to me is a great achievement.</p>
<p>ABC is correct. I get very embarrased when i meet white people who can speak and write better than me!</p>
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<p>Yea, I know exactly what you mean. I am even more motivated to learn Japanese since it is my own language. As for Mandarin, I have quite a few Chinese friends so they (indirectly) motivate me so that I can be able to speak to them.</p>
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<p>Is Cantonese that different from Mandarin? I’ve heard that the dialect between the two vary so much that f you brought a Cantonese and a Mandarin speaker together, they wouldn’t be able to understand each other.</p>
<p>Mostly Cantonese people can understand Manderin people because some they can at least listen to Manderin quite well especially Cantoneses from Guang Zhou (China) but Manderin people often have no clue what Cantonese is.</p>
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I used to go to Chinese school and there was this white kid who was 11 or 12 years old and he was so fluent in Mandarin that he did commercials on the Asian channel! And he was the one that talked his parents into letting him learn Chinese! What the crap?</p>
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Boo, I don’t feel special being Chinese! What is it, 1 in 4 people are Chinese (or was it speak Chinese?) in the world? And I don’t even speak the two major dialects of Chinese! Although I used to be some what fluent (whatever is “fluent” for a 4 year old) in my dialect, Cantonese and Vietnamese when I was younger. Watching Cantonese dramas as a kid helped me retain some listening ability. :(</p>
<p>Just found out I was accepted to UCR and rejected from UCSB.
GPA. 3.83
Major History
Accepted. UCSD, UCR, CSULA
Pending. UCLA</p>
<p>You were rejected from UCSB with a 3.83? I can’t believe that…is history there really competitive?</p>
<p>ching chang wadda wadda bing bang!</p>
<p>3.83 GPA and rejected by UCSB??? No comment… sorry to hear that</p>
<p>solakram will get in UCLA eventually. Rejected by SB is a good sign! 
I heard from my friend that her friend rejected by SB and D got in UCLA. lol</p>
<p>I’m an ABC too and I can’t speak cantonese very well either. Every once in a while I’ll meet with some relatives who speak only cantonese and I’d be so quiet for fear of embarassing myself by speaking cantonese incorrectly. I consider myself pretty social and outgoing, but send me to Hong Kong and I’ll be the shyest person you ever met! It’s interesting how language proficiency and confidence can affect your personality.</p>
<p>Lately I’ve been building up my cantonese vocabulary on my free time, maybe half an hour a day. I’m learning with Yale romanization. I wont bother trying to learn thousands of chinese characters…</p>
<p>Hey… jtsf, I see… then, I think you probably understand how a person without knowing much English struggles through school within 5 years and now enter a university… Indeed, receiving USC acceptance gives me a big boost on my confidence but still i have to improve more and more. I’m very happy these days because finally I receive some good results–acceptances from many schools. </p>
<p>All I knew in English 5 years ago were these three phrases: “how are you,” “I’m fine, thanks,” and “You are welcome” as my aunt showed me when I first arrived in the U.S. plus a few grammar rules. </p>
<p>I really believe that we can make our dreams come true if we never give up!</p>
<p>Hey 101 you got into USC already!? Congrats on that. When did you hear from them?</p>
<p>I am pretty sure ucla is gona reject me. now it will be several hard month trying to decide what i will do. Hopefully it won’t be back to cc for me :(</p>