Lisa -- A Lovely Girl Loving Language

“I think Chinese is the most difficult language in the world.” Lisa said when asked why she chose to study Chinese. Lisa, a beautiful Ukrainian girl, is a senior at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Tianjin University. She came to China about 3 years ago on a Chinese Government Scholarship after successfully passing HSK3 and HSK4 (Chinese Proficiency tests). Lisa is a gifted language learner with a good command of four languages, namely Chinese, Polish, Ukrainian and English.

Learning Chinese is never an easy task. When she just started to study Chinese in Ukraine, she had to study pinyin, strokes, Chinese characters and usage. Despite much effort, Lisa and her classmates still found it difficult to speak Chinese fluently, which was very frustrating. At that time, many of her classmates gave up. Nevertheless, Lisa persisted. Eventually, she found a skilled Chinese teacher and continued learning. After a month of preparation, Lisa successfully passed the HSK3. And then with the encouragement of her teacher, Lisa decided to take the challenging HSK4. During the three months before the exam, Lisa practiced daily from morning till night. In order to improve her Chinese, she chatted with a Chinese boy on QQ. Additionally, she watched interesting videos about Chinese, such as the famous Chinese cartoon PLEASANT GOAT AND BIG BIG WOLF. As is aptly expressed by the phrase, “Everything comes to people who wait”. Lisa passed the HSK4 through her efforts whereby she attained a Chinese Government Scholarship.

Lisa is not only an excellent student but also a food aficionado. She has created her own WeChat public account to record life in Tianjin and currently has over 550 fans. “Tianjin is a glamorous city, which mingles Chinese culture and European buildings.” Lisa said, “I come to Tianjin University with no regrets.” When talking about her future plans, she told us that she preferred to stay in Tianjin, “because Tianjin is my second home”.

By Liu Xiaomei & Mei Jiangyue

Editors: Eva Yin & Doris Harrington