What learning Mandarin taught me about not giving up

Learning Mandarin is difficult. After 90 hours worth of classes and nearly 2000 flashcards, I’m still struggling to even understand everyday real-life conversations. According to the <a href="https://www.dliflc.edu/home/about/languages-at-dliflc/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Defense Language Institute</a> (DLI), Mandarin ranks as a Level 4 foreign language, which means that it’s one of the most maddeningly frustrating languages to acquire for English speakers. This isn’t exactly a surprise. Beyond the complex writing system, you can tell right away because Mandarin sounds worlds away from English. <a href="https://medium.com/publishous/what-learning-mandarin-taught-me-about-not-giving-up-5b12529bc54">Learn More</a>