M A N D A R I N S U P E R S T A R
M A N D A R I N S U P E R S T A R
M A N D A R I N S U P E R S T A R
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Bailey & Emma Jiang
When and why did you start learning Chinese?
Although we're Kiwis, our parents are from China, so Chinese was actually the first language we learnt how to speak. From our memories, Chinese was never really 'taught' by anyone; we learnt how to speak and read Chinese from Chinese cartoons like 熊出没 (Xiong chu mo) and 喜羊羊与灰太狼 (Xi yang yang yu hui tai lang). We never knew we'd learnt so much from watching cartoons all day until one night, when the Chinese weather broadcast was on TV, we started reading out all the city names in Chinese. Our parents were shocked at the number of Chinese characters we could recognise at the age of 4. After that, watching Chinese shows each night became our family's habit, and we gained a lot of knowledge over the years while having fun.
What is the best thing about learning Chinese?
There are so many good things about learning Chinese, but the best thing is definitely learning about the culture. Our parents would tell us historical stories from thousands of years ago and link them to our lives today. We often see shows using these stories as a theme and it is cool being able to understand how the significant stories have shaped some essential aspects in our daily lives.
What opportunities have you gained because of your Chinese learning?
Learning Chinese really opens up another world, and many opportunities have come our way. One of the most rewarding opportunities was being international buddies at school. Some international students from China have come to study in New Zealand, and it was an excellent chance to test our Chinese knowledge by interacting with them in Mandarin. It was a super rewarding experience interpreting sentences for them when they didn't understand and helping them settle into life in NZ.
What would you say to other Kiwis who are thinking about learning Chinese?
I would say to other Kiwis who want to learn Chinese to go for it! Although Chinese is considered one of the hardest languages to learn, the language is so much fun to learn and as you get more advanced, you'll find a pattern in the sentence structures and characters.
A tip for reading some characters: Whenever you see the radical 氵it means the character has something to do with water, as the radical symbolizes 'the three dots of water' (三点水). For example, the character for the sea is 海 and the character for river is 河.
Do you have a favourite Chinese word or expression? Why do you like it?
We've been super into Chinese poems and idioms recently, and one of our favourite Chinese poems is 题西林壁 by 苏轼. "横看成岭侧成峰，远近高低各不同。不识庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中". This poem describes the beautiful scenery of Lushan Mountain, noting that the mountain changes as you look from different angles. The last two sentences tell us that although we are observing the beautiful view, we'll never know the complete and actual appearance of the mountain because we are within the mountain. This poem unpacks an important aspect of life- sometimes what we see is not always the full picture of the story. We need to look at all perspectives of the story before concluding statements.