Hello fellow Chinese learners ❤
I’m Krystal (also known as Moon), a Cantonese heritage speaker who has been learning Mandarin Chinese for several years. The Cozy Study is my own space where I share information to help guide other learners in finding suitable immersion content for their Chinese learning immersion journey.
My background with Chinese
I grew up in the United Kingdom as a heritage speaker of Cantonese. Until my late teens, I attended Chinese school on Saturdays, where I was taught Standard Written Chinese in the traditional writing script using Cantonese pronunciation. Unfortunately, as many other heritage speakers can relate, much of the knowledge was lost and forgotten shortly after “graduating”.
My Mandarin journey started in 2020
In early 2020, I stumbled upon a Chinese TV drama titled 《陈情令》 (“The Untamed”) on Netflix, adapted from the 耽美 (“danmei” — Chinese BL) web novel 《魔道祖师》 by 墨香铜臭. After watching all 50 episodes, I became a little obsessed and went on to read the fan translation. One thing led to another, and I ended up reading the fan translation of all three books by 墨香铜臭: 《魔道祖师》、《人渣反派自救系统》、《天官赐福》. I then went on to read a few more fan translations of other Chinese web novels.
But I didn’t want to read translations anymore…
As much as I appreciate the hard work of translators in bringing these amazing stories to a broader audience, not all translations are equal. Sadly, many are simply machine-translated edits by someone with minimal Chinese/English language skills.
Regardless of the quality of the translations, Chinese and English are two very different languages — a lot is lost in translation. Additionally, a translation is an interpretation of the original work. Sometimes aspects can be misinterpreted, leading to further misinterpretation by the reader!
Nothing beats reading the original.
I could have continued with Cantonese pronunciation, but I didn’t
Standard written Chinese can be pronounced using Cantonese or Mandarin while keeping the same meaning. Admittedly, sticking with Cantonese pronunciation would have resulted in a faster initial start, but it wouldn’t have lasted long before it became a hindrance rather than a benefit.
Spoken colloquial Cantonese is so different from standard written Chinese — almost like an entirely different language. Honestly, learning to read a language that isn’t spoken restricts us to only written material, which is a huge hindrance in the long run.
It wouldn’t have enabled me to easily consume audio media such as TV dramas and audio dramas if I had stuck with only Cantonese pronunciation.
Learning a language brings many more advantages
Not wanting to rely on translation was the initial driving force, but the journey of learning another language has opened doors to places I never expected. Throughout this journey, I’ve become part of a wonderful Discord community and made many friends from around the world who share my goals and interests. While exploring Chinese media content to find suitable immersion material, I’ve taken an interest in many new genres and areas I never imagined would be my cup of tea. This journey has also led me to reconnect with my heritage culture and dive into more of our roots and history.