Afraid to go to a Mandarin speaking club or meetup?

Flag of China. Red with yellow stars. Five five-point stars, one large, four small.

The last line is the numbers 0123456789 in Chinese. Source: Wikipedia.

The flag of Singapore. Red band above white. White crescent moon. five white five-point stars.


Problem
I am afraid to go to a Mandarin-speaking club in Singapore.
I am lost in most of it.

My friend Marshall says he can evaluate the performance of a speech by looking at the speaker. He is ticking the boxes for voice: volume and pitch and variety; eye contact; interaction with the audience; confidence; and a definite ending.

His aim is to be invited, even though he speaks almost no Mandarin. If that's what you want, fine, go along.

That's not enough for me. I want to learn a few words of Mandarin.

However, I realised that when I meet somebody who says, "I also belong to a Mandarin club," or, I speak Mandarin, that's my opportunity to ask just one question.

I asked Wil, "What's the Mandarin for Toastmasters' Club?"

He replied, "It's .....-......-........  which means speak-act-club."

That's very logical. I can learn one phrase, plus three words. Now, all I have to do is to learn the Mandarin.

Useful Websites
Google translate
https://translate.google.com/

Toastmasters International find-a-club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

Meetup
meetup.com

Duolingo
Duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.