Why did you decide to take Chinese?

“I decided to take Chinese because of my heritage. I consider myself an American, but I can’t ignore my heritage on my mother’s side. I can’t say that I like the current state of China as a country, but as a people, I have nothing but adoration for the Chinese way of life.”

Can you think of a experience or story related to you taking Chinese?

“I can give you a great story about why you should learn Chinese even if you have no heritage ties. Pre-pandemic when I was volunteering as an educator in China, the organization gave us each translators to help us communicate with our kids. I lucked out and got a very pretty girl. She called me cute when talking to her friend, but she didn’t know I could understand her.”

Why did you decide to take Chinese and what challenges did you face without having previous Chinese knowledge?

“My sister took it, and she said it was fun and enjoyable and that the teacher was really nice. She told me there were food projects before COVID, which she said was fun to cook and eat. Sadly, we can’t do it now, but I am looking forward to it if we get the chance to. I also have a lot of friends in my class, and I also have more choices for movies and dramas to watch that are in different languages now.”

“Pronunication and listening are really challenging. It’s really hard to differentiate different tones. I also feel like grammar is challenging for me because it is different from Japanese, which is my first language. Although it has similar characteristics to Japanese, it’s still totally different like the pronunciation and the grammar are both different. Learning the language from a fresh start is really challenging, so I feel like more practice is needed.”