I had never thought how much fun I would have on the trip prior to my arrival in Salamanca, Spain, but when I am writing this case study now, a huge flood of memories from that exciting week come!

My placement (实习工作) was at a nursery and that in itself was hardly “work” — playing with the children, reading to them and taking them to see local children’s performers was by far the most enjoyable work I have ever undertaken. In the afternoons it doubled as an English-teaching after-school club of sorts, which was incidentally a brilliant way for me to learn Spanish while the pupils picked up some English.

On Monday during the siesta (午休), I went with friends to an amazing restaurant for lunch, where we enjoyed delicious Spanish food and drink. In the evening, we visited local restaurants and cafes and had a brilliant time! This was a pattern that I tended to follow throughout the week.

Besides the social activities, I also made good use of my camera and used it to capture the stunning beauty of many of Salamanca’s buildings.

The trip was definitely an invaluable experience — the large amount of independence that we were given taught me to be more responsible, and the few people that were initially (起初的) homesick got over it almost immediately. Having now visited Spain, I can honestly say it is by far the best way to learn a language as you are immersing yourself in it by being in a situation where you are effectively being forced to speak the language, thus improving your speaking skills.

The week-long trip benefited me linguistically as my speaking and also listening skills improved considerably as a result of everyone’s positively speedy talking. Culturally, as I learnt a great deal more about the Spanish culture, not to mention socially as I made plenty of friends.

In a sentence, the trip was brilliant because I was not just learning the language — I was also learning about the people and culture behind the language and even better, I made lots of new friends along the way!

As I look up at the hundreds of fireworks in the sky, I hear the bells ringing in small temple welcoming the coming of the Chinese New Year. Though I may not believe in or understand many of the New Year traditions here, the similarities between the coming of this New Year and the beginning of my new life in China are not lost on a big boy like me.

My fist few days in China were a cultural shock to say the least. Having arrived late in the semester, I immediately had to begin my beginners’ Chinese classes, along with the newest class of overseas students. Being surrounded by a language that int your own is unbelievably annoying. Due to the picture-based fashion of Chinese writing, it’s not like you can have a guess, or work it out through whatever knowledge you have from other Latin-originated languages. If you don’t know what it says, then that’s it. However, with time passing, I have found myself progressing, though painfully slowly. The first time I called a taxi by myself, the driver actually understood where I wanted to go, which is hugely rewarding (有益的). Sill it is never long before my lack of language skill is exposed (暴露的) and I come crashing back to earth, usually immediately upon leaving the taxi.

Gaining a language is a huge valuable skill. However, it is not the only thing I will gain in China. After this year of learning Chinese, I aim to gain my master’s degree here at University of Jinan. Opportunities do come around rather often: from being offered jobs teaching English, to being asked to appear on game-shows for Shandong TV. So, for now, I am just looking forward to expanding my cultural horizons (眼界) and enjoying my time here. I takes some time to get used to everything, but that’s part of the adventure and, most of all, employment. So, much like the Chinese New Year that I am lucky enough to be part of, I am just looking forward to a fresh start and a new journey in China.

If you find it hard to learn English, think of the foreigners who learn Chinese. The number of people learning Chinese around the world reached 100 million in 2017, up from 30 million in 2004, according to People’s Daily.

But what difficulties do foreigners usually face when learning Chinese? And how do they overcome these difficulties? Mike has lived in China for nine years and here is his story of learning Chinese:

Like many foreigners, I only knew two words of Chinese (“hello” and “thank you”) when I first came to China, so simple tasks like ordering food or taking a taxi were quite difficult for me.

I knew I had to learn more Chinese, so I signed up for classes. However, I didn’t learn enough to have a real conversation. Later I studied on my own, but my progress was still slow and I became upset.

Finally, I found the best way to learn Chinese was to make friends with native speakers and spend time with them. I started playing in a band with a Chinese woman who later became one of my best friends in Beijing. I learned a lot of Chinese by hanging out with her, and she learned English from me too. So it was a good way to exchange language and culture.

Now I’ve learned enough Chinese to take care of a few complicated (复杂的) tasks, like booking train tickets and speaking with my landlord (房东). However, visits to the bank, and anything else that requires technical (专业的) language, are still difficult for me.