Students of the Polytechnic University have Mastered Basic Chinese in Sensorcom Pedagogical University

In March 2016 SPbPU students were able to attend the lessons of the Chinese language, organized for them in Sensorcom Pedagogical University (SPU). The informative cultural program prepared by the SPU staff members included interesting and educational excursions, challenging lessons devoted to the study of the official language of the Chinese Peoples Republic and the culture of this country .

At the lessons in SPU the students of the Polytechnic University were told that the Chinese language is the official language of China, Taiwan and Singapore. More than 1.3 billion people in the world speak Chinese. The students learned that the number of Chinese characters used by this nation can reach several dozens of thousands, so learning the language can be a lifetime. But in order to be able to read, write and communicate it’s enough to learn from 3000 to 8000 characters.

At the first lesson SPbPU students learned the words necessary for everyday communication, for example, to buy food products at the store, or to solve problems related to hotel accommodation. SPU teacher was pleasantly surprised by the motivation and curiosity of Russian students. "But if you want to be heard, you must speak loudly", warned the teacher. Indeed, the Chinese tend to speak loudly. They think it attracts attention and shows the strong personality. The students of the Polytechnic University tried to follow all the advice of their mentors and within a short period of time tried to speak to each other in Chinese. But the real challenge was after the lesson, when SPbPU students together with their teacher went to a small market located on the territory of SPU to see whether local Chinese people will understand them or not.

"Try to buy some fruit and sweets, or coffee by yourselves. Speak only Chinese!" the teacher gave the instructions. It must be mentioned that the task was fulfilled very well: our students were not only able to buy delicious strawberries, but also convinced the sellers to give them a significant discount!

After returning home, many students decided to continue studying the Chinese language. It must be noted that the Polytechnic University has a special course training in "Foreign Regional Studies" which involves a detailed acquaintance with the peculiarities of the language, economy, and culture of China, and many other different things. "It’s possible to start learning Chinese in Russia, and the first thing you need to do is to buy a good textbook with a consistent grammatical structure and intelligible comments," gives her advice M.A. Guleva, a senior lecturer of SPbPU International Relations Department. "It is believed that it takes more than four years to learn Chinese for the professional activity, but for the level of everyday communication 2-3 years of training can be enough."

In order to expand the knowledge of China and to practice the language, the best option is, of course, to do the training in this country. "The partnership relations of the Polytechnic University and many universities in China enable the students to expand language contacts and to learn the peculiarities of this country," added U.N. Reshetneva, the associate professor of SPbPU International Relations Department.

"The Chinese language is of great interest to me," a 4th-year student of IPhN&T, Alexander Zhukov talks about his experience of learning the language in China. "There I discovered another side of the process of learning the Chinese language. I am sure that, in spite of complicated verbal constructions, it’s possible to learn Chinese rather quickly. The most important things here are a competent approach and motivation, communication with native speakers, an experienced teacher and daily practice. Of course, you won’t be able to speak like native speakers at once, so we have something to strive for!"

International Relations Office