Revisiting Chinese Books

 

原子習慣：細微改變帶來巨大成就的實證法則

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Yesterday, I began reading the Chinese version of James Clear’s best-selling book, Atomic Habits. I listened to the English audiobook version years ago, but have forgotten most of the content except that it was a decent book, so I decided to revisit it. The reason why I chose to read it in Chinese is that I wanted to brush up my Chinese, which has gotten quite rusty over the years.

The Chinese version I’m reading is the traditional Chinese edition published in Taiwan. Although I learned Chinese mostly in Mainland China, where the simplified Chinese script is used, when it comes to reading, I much prefer the traditional script because of its esthetic visual appeal. Moreover, due to Taiwan’s more advanced printing technology including its paper quality, Taiwanese books look far more exquisite and even feel nicer to the touch than their counterparts from Mainland China.

Furthermore, I also prefer the general vocabulary that’s used in Taiwanese Mandarin, which has a bit of a traditional feel to it, reflecting Taiwan’s respectful attitude toward history and traditional culture, as well as their harmonious liberal arts environment; in comparison, the Putonghua from Mainland China has elements of toxicity and aggressiveness that have been copiously injected into the language through decades of propaganda and political upheavals under the Communist rule.

I believe that people’s psyche is largely shaped by the kind of language they use in everyday life—if you keep using gentle language, you’ll become a gentle person; if you use abusive language, you’re more prone to exhibit aggressive behavior. Therefore, wherever possible, I try to avoid being exposed to abusive language. When it comes to reading Chinese books, I naturally gravitate toward Taiwanese books rather than Mainland Chinese books.

The only thing I like about the Mainland Chinese Putonghua is their accent, especially the standard variation adopted by China Central Television’s news anchors, which doesn’t use too much rhotic sound commonly heard in Beijing vernacular speech. It sounds purified and sophisticated, and can be easily understood by Chinese speakers from all regions, including Mainland China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. I think it’s the equivalent of the broadcast American accent (General American) in English, which is by far my favorite English accent.

Although I spent six years in Shanghai where I attended local secondary school, I didn’t get very fluent in Chinese. If anything, my favorite subject in school was English, because that was the only academic subject in which I could compete with my Chinese classmates on an equal footing.

As a result, I ended up studying English far more conscientiously than Chinese, which eventually enabled me to lay a much more solid foundation in the former than the latter, especially in vocabulary and grammar. That sounds like a wasted opportunity to learn Chinese, but I don’t regret that my language learning journey has turned out the way it did.

That said, I do find the Chinese language beautiful, and every once in a while I get the urge to delve into the study of Mandarin or Cantonese. Here in Singapore, I speak with my colleagues, clients, and friends every day by alternating between English and Chinese, although in written communications English is almost exclusively used.

My professional needs dictate that I spend more time and energy on learning English compared to Chinese, Japanese, and French, but I consider my Chinese skills, if less-than-perfect, a valuable asset I should never let go of. As long as I live, I will keep coming back to learning the language of Confucius and appreciating its beauty.