Really, I’m not planning on picking up newspapers any time soon.

Eric- Yeah, I hope to be one of the people put in charge of hoarding the "mongrels" (AKA, you all non-Chinese reading fools) into the "Happy fun work time" camps. I expect to be paid in rice and die somewhat later in a camp led bloody revolt against my sarcasm and cruelty. You know me, always looking out for number one!

Unfortunately, the Chinese characters I’ll be learning aren’t the simplified Chinese characters they use now, but the traditional characters of days past. The Chinese, internally, have actually made their characters easier, while all the countries surrounding China that use their characters have kept the more complex traditional style. I don’t know if I’ll have any practical use reading things from China, but I might have an easier time in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea who keep the traditional style. If I can read just one awesome propaganda poster (admit it, the Communist propanda art is great), it will all be worth it.

I admit, these aren’t the best reasons to take an interest in the language, but anything that motivates me to study helps.