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    The Advantages of Learning Chinese at YCIS

    Student Blog

    09 Dec, 2014

    10 : 00

    • Dania, Year 11, Century Park Campus


      你好我叫乔丹妮! This is my third year at YCIS and I'm in CAL-S3 already.


      Living in Shanghai without being able to speak Chinese can be quite challenging. I remember my first summer here. I didn't know anything about Chinese. I was in the supermarket with my mum trying to explain to one of the helpers what we were looking for, until I realised that I could use this amazing app called “Google Translator”! But now, there is no need for Google Translator anymore because I found a better way! This isn't an app, but the amazing Chinese educational system that YCIS offers. Within a year I was able to express my feelings in Chinese, saying to my teacher “我爱你老师”. I was even able to say my excuses in Chinese!


      YCIS is known around the international community as the international school with the best Chinese curriculum in Shanghai. And I have proved it myself, as some of my friends who go to different international schools have been here longer than I have and yet they're not able to understand more than half of what a taxi driver or a waiter says. Now I am the Google Translator for my outside school posse and I love it, as it is an opportunity for me to have even more practice. I find it very fun as Chinese people always get impressed that I am able to speak their language so well, even if my teacher says there is still plenty of room for improvement! I like it when locals say: “你的中文很好!”


      Friends of mine that have experienced learning Chinese in a different international school have realised the difference between their Chinese level and that of a YCIS student. YCIS provides a high level of Chinese education for native speakers, second language speakers, and third language speakers just like myself. For IGCSE and IB students, having “fluent Chinese” written on their university applications is great advantage among other candidates who are also applying to the university. I have heard a couple of students from other schools saying, “I don't want to study Chinese. It isn't useful as I won't live in China when I grow older.” However, those students haven't yet realised that being able to speak, write, and read Chinese can give them great opportunities in life, opening doors well into their future!