I have three Chinese textbooks with CD’s that I am listening to before heading to China. For the most part, the sounds and cadences come back to me naturally. There are a series of words, however, that simply don’t register for me. They sound like more-or-less random noise. In English, they are the words for: email, web site, web page, computer crash, computer virus, download, software, cellphone, ringtone and the like.
Just a hint that things have changed rather a lot since 1990. I’m working on getting myself up-to-date.