My first day at university

I turn to my desk mate on the right and she is a girl. I first smile to her, and then she shy's off and smiles looking away. I ask her the same question I asked first. She is amazed that I can speak Chinese; she is very excited until she stammers but at least she understands me and tells me the teaching is doing an introduction to calculus. The young lady is very curious about me and floods me with a million questions. It is when we are conversing that I realize my Chinese pronunciation is wanting, I can't say the tonal variations well and so I end up saying a different meaning instead of the one I intend to. That’s why my desk mate on the left could not comprehend what I was saying.

I try to listen to what the teacher is teaching and all I hear is 是不是 (isn't it). I turn to the book and try reading it to understand what the teaching is saying, just a look at the book, I see I know all the Chinese characters but then how they have been combined differently to make a word leaves me feeling stupid and blank. I have no idea what they mean. I take out my cellphone to check the words in the dictionary but then the eagle eyes of the teacher are on me. He asks me why I am using my cellphone in class, I tell him I am checking the dictionary. He asks me 听的懂吗？ (do you understand what I am teaching?), I reply 马马虎虎(so-so)。 The whole class is happy that I can speak Chinese, but I wonder what I would be doing in a Chinese class if I don’t know how to speak Chinese.

The teacher continues and gives as an example of a calculus problem on the wall. Its figures, no more Chinese characters that don’t make sense and I perfectly understand, as he finishes to tackle the problem the answer turns out to be 10 (which is correct) so he says 答案是四(the answer is 4) and he writes 10 on the board。

My keen me, I raise my hand and ask him 为什么你说答案是四然后写十? (Why did you say the answer is 4 and instead write 10?). The teacher is surprised at my question; he doesn't understand what is asking. So I paraphrase the question and he replies 对啊答案是四 (Yes, the answer is 4). I am now totally confused how the answer turns from 10 to 4, but for the sake of the other students I tell him 明白了(understood）. I try review the example again and still the answer turns out to be 10 but I wonder why the teacher said the answer is 4. I turn to my desk mate and ask him why the teacher said 4 while the answer is 10, he tells 对啊答案是四 (Yes, the answer is 4), so I ask him why did the teacher write 10, he tells me that 10 is the correct answer. I become totally confused and wonder what’s wrong with him.

Krriiing! kriing! there goes the bell, the class is over. I decide to follow the teacher and ask him why he said the answer was 4 while the correct answer is 10, he takes me through the whole example and finally says 答案是四 (The answer is 4). I tell him 四 is 4 and the answer is 十 which is 10. The teacher repeats in English "yes, I just said the answer is 10". It's then that it dawns on me that some Chinese can't say "shi" to mean 10 but instead says "si" to mean 10 and unfortunately one of them is my teacher and my deskmate. So I wonder what more other words can't they not pronounce well? Is that how I shall survive in the next 4 years? Anyway the class is over and is more confused than I came in. I then realize the Chinese I have learnt is only basic to help me with my day to day life in china.

The author is an international student from Kenya studying at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.