Why should Kiwis learn Chinese?
To celebrate New Zealand Chinese Language Week at Te Pūtahi Reo the Language Learning Centre, 300-level Chinese language student Sophie Liew asks Chinese speakers from around Victoria University of Wellington 'why should Kiwis learn Chinese?' We hope our friendly interviewees will provide you with some encouragement to continue your Chinese learning journey or maybe get stuck in if you haven't yet started!
In this video 300-level Chinese language student Sophie Liew takes us for a walk around our university campus asking Chinese speakers from China as well as Singapore and New Zealand ‘why should Kiwis learn Chinese?’ This video is subtitled with Chinese characters, transliterated Chinese or 汉语拼音 (hànyǔ pīnyīn) and an English translation. Learning hànyǔ pīnyīn is a first step for learners of Chinese and is useful for learners watching this video in terms of improving their listening comprehension as well as character recognition.
Our talented presenter Sophie started studying Chinese at the School of Language and Cultures in 2015 and is now in her final trimester, having studied with both Dr Luo Hui and Dr Bai Limin. She is also a regular user of the Language Learning Centre and has been a Language Buddy three times. She even went to meet one of her Language Buddies in their hometown, the north-eastern Chinese city of Harbin which she describes as a really cool experience. Her prowess in Mandarin is down to no small amount of hard work, and we hope she will inspire others when they hear just how much can be achieved with passion and dedication. One of the things Sophie cites as being instrumental in improving her Mandarin was making Chinese-speaking friends. Sophie also volunteered before and after her university exchange to Taiwan, first at an elementary school teaching English and then at a surf shop during the summer months. She also did an internship at a law firm for a month in Taiwan and then spent a month helping at a Tai chi school in Shanghai. Remarkably Sophie has also managed to fit in a minor in German during her time at Victoria University of Wellington!
As you will see there are a multitude of reasons for learning Chinese, not least of all the fact that Chinese speakers are so friendly and welcoming of people learning their language. For those of you who don’t speak Mandarin, we hope you will find it interesting to have a taste of the way Chinese speakers speak when communicating on their own terms.
Those interested in learning more about Chinese courses should email slc@vuw.ac.nz or find out more on the School of Languages and Cultures website. The Language Learning Centre offers a huge number of independent study resources for teaching yourself Mandarin as well as Cantonese. You may also like to try our ‘Practise Online’ list on online web links for learning Chinese.
Many thanks to our student interviewees Feng Zhixuan, Wang Xinqing, Brian Li, Jasmine, Harry, Tian Yixing, Yang Ningyi, Daphne, Lu Miao and Ji Jingyan. Also thanks to Ida Li (School of Languages and Cultures), Li Yuting (Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington), Andrew Wilford (New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre), English Proficiency Programme student Tang Dong (for proofreading the transcribed subtitles) and most especially Sophie Liew for their assistance with making this video.
Article and video by Benjamin Swale