First Year of Teaching Chinese at PetrSU
Zhao Linlin teaches the course, and this spring the university opened the Chinese Language Room, which is not just a classroom, but a meeting point for everyone interested in the culture of the Celestial Empire.
Landscapes of the southern China, traditional lanterns and a poem by the renowned Chinese poet Li Bai decorate the room where the 1st year students study the program “Russian as a Foreign Language, Chinese Language”. They are beginners in every sense: this program has been open for just one year. The classes are taught by a native language speaker – Zhao Linlin. The teacher was introduced to the Russian culture and language ten years ago at university. She first visited Karelia in 2018, and last year was admitted to postgraduate studies and moved to Petrozavodsk.
Zhao Linlin, Chinese language teacher:
“Of course, it is cold in winter, dark at times. But now everything is completely different: nice weather, the sun is shining, I enjoy living here. I have great colleagues, good friends here, and amazing students.”
Among Linlin’s students are those who have just started learning the language, and those who have been studying it before. Everyone at the university was excited about the new program.
Eva Radetskaya, PetrSU students: “I think for Petrozavodsk it is a breakthrough. Before that, Chinese has not been a particularly popular foreign language here. When I learned that PetrSU will teach this language, I was very excited since I can explore career options requiring the Chinese language in our city”.
Chinese is one of the hardest languages in the world. In addition to hieroglyphs, word order can also be challenging. Yet despite that, the 1st year students are already making good progress and have reached a certain level of proficiency in the language.
The university highlights that the competition for the new program was highly selective, as this program offers students plenty of opportunities.
Oksana Abramova, Director of the Institute of Philology of PetrSU:
“Students receive extensive linguistic training, study pedagogical subjects related to the Russian language, learn methods of teaching Russian language, and in the second year they begin their English language course. This means that our graduates will be proficient in three languages, which gives them considerable labor market advantages.”
Certainly, the students also learn about the culture of Chine, national cuisine, and even sing Chinese songs. In their senior years, they will study subjects related to international relations. Today, cooperation with China is a promising area, so the interest in the language in the world is huge.
Konstantin Tarasov, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of PetrSU:
“As practice has shown and by the results of the last summer admission campaign, this enrollment was very successful. The academic year has passed, we see that almost all students are here, they study, and they like it, although it is a paid program. We are quite satisfied with how the program is going.”
This summer there will be new admission, and the university hopes that even more motivated students will come to study the Chinese language here.
