Name: Andy Cheung E-mail: Location of Study: Program of Study: China Sponsor(s): Liu Family
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While I have had the privilege of traveling to China when I was younger and have experienced the culture through my family at home, I still expect to experience the culture shock associated with traveling to a foreign country. Though I look forward to the opportunity to visit China and the unique monuments and settings, I acknowledge the fact that I am ultimately entering a country where I do not fluidly speak the native language and am aware that as a result there will be a divide between the native speakers and me. Beyond the language barriers, which I hope to bridge through this program, even the different cultural aspects and different nuances in routine behavior will also be quite the experience to discern and examine.
My main concerns are the decline in my Mandarin skills during this summer break. While I have made a conscious effort to practice speaking and reviewing the material of first year Chinese, I do not feel as though it is possible to fully prepare myself to being uprooted into an environment of entirely native Mandarin speakers. I expect to experience quite a bit of self-consciousness over my Mandarin skills at the start of the program and the start of my time in Beijing in general, but I also look forward to the opportunity of practicing Chinese routinely and being forced to speak the language to communicate basic ideas and questions to natives, hopefully leading me to develop more complex sentence patterns as my stay in China progresses.
Thus my present expectations are focused on language and culture, because regardless of how familiar I may be with the culture and how much I practice my Mandarin, I could not possibly fully prepare myself to live China for two months, and in this regard, I don’t honestly know what to expect. Regardless, I eagerly await my plane ride into China and am very excited for this opportunity.
While I have had the privilege of traveling to China when I was younger and have experienced the culture through my family at home, I still expect to experience the culture shock associated with traveling to a foreign country. Though I look forward to the opportunity to visit China and the unique monuments and settings, I acknowledge the fact that I am ultimately entering a country where I do not fluidly speak the native language and am aware that as a result there will be a divide between the native speakers and me. Beyond the language barriers, which I hope to bridge through this program, even the different cultural aspects and different nuances in routine behavior will also be quite the experience to discern and examine.
My main concerns are the decline in my Mandarin skills during this summer break. While I have made a conscious effort to practice speaking and reviewing the material of first year Chinese, I do not feel as though it is possible to fully prepare myself to being uprooted into an environment of entirely native Mandarin speakers. I expect to experience quite a bit of self-consciousness over my Mandarin skills at the start of the program and the start of my time in Beijing in general, but I also look forward to the opportunity of practicing Chinese routinely and being forced to speak the language to communicate basic ideas and questions to natives, hopefully leading me to develop more complex sentence patterns as my stay in China progresses.
Thus my present expectations are focused on language and culture, because regardless of how familiar I may be with the culture and how much I practice my Mandarin, I could not possibly fully prepare myself to live China for two months, and in this regard, I don’t honestly know what to expect. Regardless, I eagerly await my plane ride into China and am very excited for this opportunity.