91ÉçÇø

My name is Olivia, a first-year student with a major in History and a minor in East Asian Studies. When I entered the LKS Intensive Chinese Language program, I had just finished the first level class. I joined the program to learn Mandarin Chinese in an immersive environment. In fact, one of my biggest dreams is to become multilingual. Moreover, as a history major, being fluent in different languages is an asset to better understand historical sources, events, and figures. Mandarin allows me to get to learn about such an ancient and rich history. The language also interests me as it is far from the languages I speak or have been exposed to.

In my opinion, one cannot exclusively learn a new language in a classroom with textbooks. What makes someone a speaker is their interaction with native speakers and fellow students. This is what this program offers. Through the immersion, my goal was to let go of my fear to speak in a foreign language. I have the tendency to not practice speaking as I am convinced that because my pronunciation is off, and vocabulary limited people cannot understand me. Throughout the program, I could gradually see my progress in communication. For example, we had no choice but to use Mandarin to order food. At first, a tutor would order for us as we could not even read the names of the dishes on the menu. But soon enough, they just told us how to pronounce the names and we would practice while waiting in line to order. After a while, as long as we knew what we wanted, we could order on our own.

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The program as a whole is an unforgettable experience, from the classes to the city trips to the food. However, the highlight of the program is the people, the fellow 91ÉçÇø students and the wonderful tutors. At first, you meet most of your fellow students at 4am at the airport for the first time. Soon, they become the people who understand you and who will be there for you. Everyone is in the same situation. We all are far away from home in an unfamiliar environment where we can more or less understand the language. Therefore, you start helping each other out and by the end of the trip you have made new friends. As for the tutors, they are the reason the program becomes so meaningful. At first, we have a typical students/tutor relationship. However, as we spend more and more time with them, we learn to know and understand each other. And despite the language barrier, we made new friends with whom we made promises to work hard to see each other again. For that, I hope the program continues as it is.

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My suggestion to future students is to arrive prepared. If you know more about daily life words and expressions than what you have learned in class, you are going to feel more comfortable and confident to speak with locals. What you learn in class helps you form sentences and express yourself, what you learn on your own is going to help you understand the tutors and have conversations with them. Surprisingly, what helped me a lot was my interest in Chinese pop culture. Not only was I used to hear young locals speak, but I had things to discuss with the tutors. It is how I started to bond with them. I am not saying that one should arrive already fluent. That is not the goal of the language program. In fact, I am glad I was able to experience such an immersion early in my learning process. In my opinion, being able to express yourself is more important than the amount of vocabulary you know. By learning how to say what I want to say with such a limited vocabulary, not only broke me out of this fear of mistakes but also made me understand how the language works more easily. It is when you have to use the language that it starts to feel more natural, so do not hesitate to apply tha knowledge you have, whatever your level. You will definitely get something out of the program. My second suggestion is to simply enjoy and to say yes. Such an opportunity does not come often, and time goes faster than you think. The program is going to throw you out of your comfort zone, so might as well try everything.