With China’s rapid economic ascension over the last 3 decades, the number of foreigners learning the language has increased dramatically. As China’s economic miracle continues, the world is beginning to understand more about this complex culture and more people are being enticed by its fascinating and frustrating language. Before I began my love affair with this fascinating language back in 2009 I did quite a bit of research. You see I’d come back from 6 ½ months of travelling and I was amazed by the amount of people who were bilingual. It seemed everyone could speak my language, and I couldn’t speak anyone else’s. After spending a month in China I resolved that this would not happen again; I decided to learn to Mandarin Chinese. Upon returning to sunny old England my research confirmed my worst initial fears, that Mandarin Chinese would be an incredibly tough. However there was a…