Hm, "basic Mandarin" sounds like much less than "native, unexercised" to me, as I feel that the latter implies an earlier native fluency, but I see that could b

Hm, "basic Mandarin" sounds like much less than "native, unexercised" to me, as I feel that the latter implies an earlier native fluency, but I see that could be a matter of opinion. Eg, it's possible they can fully understand her but can't speak it particularly well.