Studying more to learn less and less

If you're a foreigner, I know your Chinese isn't very good. In fact, it's probably horrible. Maybe it should even be described with expletives.

True or not, that's how you'll tell me it is. It's the universal response to the mention of a foreigner's Mandarin, whether you translate research on molecular biology or forget the word for "three".

Actually, I think your Chinese is great, and there's good reason you should, too.