Communicating

We were emailed the following question:

We're curious about how you all communicate...does she repeat anything you all say? She called you baba...have you been saying that for 2 days straight, or what? Are you using English terms too, and has she said any of those?

This ties somewhat into a previous post about the uncertainty of her knowledge of Mandarin. As we've mentioned, (I think) we were tutored for exactly one hour in some basic Mandarin phrases and have read through (and listened to the audio version of) a basic speaking book from our agency. We have that book and the cheat-sheet from the tutor with us and have referred to and practiced from them often. We also try to practice with our guides.

We've had two guides, one in Beijing and one here in Changsha. We notice that THEY say words and phrases differently. We can tell what they are, but they correct the pronunciation we got from the tutor, or from the other guide. It's confusing. So who knows if our pronunciation is even intelligible.

Never-the-less we try. We do try to use some simple (Mandarin) words with M. We also just speak English and use a lot of gestures. We also use the Mandarin we know followed by the English and gestures. We believe that there are some words that EVERYONE seems to know, such as baba and mama (dad and mom). All the guides, the tutor, the book, nannies and directors etc etc. etc. have used them. They were spoken passionately to the children by guides, nannies and directors alike at "Gotcha" with reference to us, and natives continue to use those terms of us when speaking to our daughter. We also repeat them playfully along with "mom" and "dad" etc.

I can't say we heard M. say a single word or sound that sounded like a word in any language on either 9/11 or 9/12. She was extremely quiet. Even though she smiled and giggled a bunch yesterday, she still had not really spoken. I heard something in her sleep, but am uncertain if it was some form of Chinese or just some muttering. Today (9/13 in China) we've heard several words in Chinese. Nothing in English. I'd be shocked to hear that so soon. We've only been with her from 54 hours! (wow, they've been a full 54 hours!)

On the one hand, our guide has wondered how much Mandarin M. has heard from her nannies. She sees that it can be quite difficult to communicate with both M. and the other boy in the group (from yet another area of Hunan.) They don't always seem to respond to her. But there's clearly not a congnitive issue--they both appear to be very bright. On the other hand, she does respond at times. Also, she said a word over and over again in the play room while throwing a ball. We repeated the sounds to our guide and after a couple attempts she realized she was saying the word for "throw." Makes sense. She's said a few other words in the room repetitively --a couple phrases having to do with a book; a couple with eating. (so it seems.)

Starting at breakfast, this was a day full of mutual communication. She clearly made signs to us asking for things throughout the day. She pointedto her milk and clearly wanted to drink it. She pointed to her neck and clearly wanted us to fix the napkin (drat! we forgot BIBS!!!!) that was sliding down. etc.

We're just winging it all the best we can. We just know that she's definitely responding to us and communicating back to us in a host of verbal and non-verbal ways. And it's great! She definitely called me "baba" and it was an absolutely amazing feeling that still lingers nine hours later.

--R

Prices in Changsha

After breakfast today we had a meeting with the other CCAI family and our guide, Kathy. At some point we'll post about Kathy; she's wonderful. After this meeting, Kathy brought us out to a local grocery store. A little mart in the midst of a city block. We wanted to get some bottled water and some snacks that M. might appreciate. Later in the trip we'll have to pick up a few things for the boys, so they can try some different things and see the Chinese packaging.

We picked up about 6 bottles of water, a couple diet cokes for J., some jello, milk candy, cookies, crackers, and some other food stuffs our guide recommended. I think also some drinkable yogurt-type stuff. Finally we added a bottle of "Great Wall Wine." We bought all these items plus a bag in which to carry them for 72 yuan, or about 10 US dollars.

We then had lunch at a local restaurant. We fed five adults and two children for 94 yuan, or about 13 US dollars TOTAL. These prices are substantially less than Beijing, and we are greatly encouraged because we will spend the bulk of our time here.