To study or not to study!

This paragraph comes from Windsong, my autobiography.  I was writing about my time in college and decided to write a short bit about my efforts to learn Chinese.  I thought you would enjoy it.  You can find "Windsong", my autobiography, on line by searching for "Sedgehead" and "Windsong" or by asking me for the link to the website where it is being posted.  I have completed about 60,000 words but will write at least two or three times that many before I finish.

Today, in 2010, my Chinese friends know I don’t follow standard methods of doing anything.  I don’t want to study the Chinese language even though I want to read and write Chinese better than the average Chinese person.  Studying has never been my goal.  Any student knows studying tends toward boredom and tedium.  I want to speak and write Chinese, I don’t want to study it!  If I could, I would never study and I had the grades from my first three semesters in college to prove it!

That is, studying, by itself, is not a goal of mine.  I want to speak and read, not study!  If I could learn Chinese without studying, I would.  Indeed, I study as little as possible and speak and write as much as I can.