在过去的一周里，我一直在制定今年学习普通话的计划。 Zài guòqù de yīzhōu lǐ, wǒ yīzhí zài zhìdìng jīnnián xuéxí pǔtōnghuà de jìhuà. Over the past week, I have been developing a plan for learning Mandarin Chinese this year. 在过去的两年里，我一直在努力学习普通话——制定诸如“在 2021 年达到中级普通话水平”之类的决心——但没有设定好的目标、制定计划或提高我的承诺水平作为这个决心的基础。 Zài guòqù de liǎng nián lǐ, wǒ yīzhí zài nǔlì xuéxí pǔtōnghuà——zhìdìng zhūrú “zài 2021 nián dádào zhōngjí pǔtōnghuà shuǐpíng” zhī lèi de juéxīn——dàn méiyǒu shè dìng hǎo de mùbiāo, zhìdìng jìhuà huò tígāo wǒ de chéngnuò shuǐpíng zuòwéi zhège juéxīn de jīchǔ. I have tried over the past two years to learn Mandarin – making resolutions such as “Reach intermediate proficiency in Mandarin during 2021” – without setting good goals, developing a plan, or increasing my level of commitment as the foundation of this resolution. 我发现，这些三心二意的决定往往会因借口而失败和消亡——比如没有足够的时间或不想学习。 Wǒ fāxiàn, zhèxiē sānxīn'èryì de juédìng wǎngwǎng huì yīn jièkǒu ér shībài hé xiāowáng——bǐrú méiyǒu zúgòu de shí jiàn huò bùxiǎng xuéxí. These half-hearted resolutions, I have found, tend to fizzle out and die by the hand of excuses – such as not having enough time or not feeling like studying. 我想谈谈我为什么要学普通话。原因有很多。 Wǒ xiǎng tán tán wǒ wèishéme yào xué pǔtōnghuà. Yuányīn yǒu hěnduō. I want to talk about why I want to learn Mandarin. There are numerous reasons why.