Even at a snail's pace, anything you keep doing will take shape — that is the thought I hold on to. I started Chinese last April understanding nothing at all, and fourteen months on, at fifty-five, I forget words almost as fast as I learn them. Yet I can now catch pieces of Chinese on the streets of Tokyo and in dramas, and next to the person I was fourteen months ago, I have clearly moved forward.
| 亀の歩み | かめのあゆみ | at a snail's pace |
| 根を詰める | こんをつめる | to work intensely without a break |
| 劣等生 | れっとうせい | poor student |
| 衰える | おとろえる | to decline; to weaken |
| コツコツ | こつこつ | steadily; little by little |
This is a free excerpt. The complete script (kanji + hiragana) with audio is available here:
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