Dylan Walker: my relationship with the Chinese language

My connection with the Chinese language is rather unique and special. From a young age, I was always interested in foreign cultures and world history, but at the time, I concentrated on ancient Egyptian history. When I was 5 years old, my focus of study and interest changed as soon as I met my closest childhood friend, an American-born-Chinese. We met in the first grade; at that time I went to his house many times a week after school to play, or we would go to his family Chinese restaurant located in our town. While at my friend’s house, I noticed they had some Chinese children’s books that had pinyin above the Chinese characters. Each time I would go to his house, I always tried getting my hands on one of the books, and just because of this strong curiosity, my friend’s mom saw that I had a growing interest in Chinese, so she started to teach me some basic Chinese words, such as numbers and greetings, etc.

Soon after, I constantly had my mom take me to the local library to borrow books on how to learn Chinese, as well as cassette tapes. Feeling this not being enough, my mom took me to bookstores whenever we had the chance, so I could purchase Chinese language learning books, CDs, and DVDs.

Not long after my friend’s mom became my first teacher, and helped cultivate my interest and passion for the Chinese language. She sent her son and myself to a Chinese school where we had class every Sunday. Starting out at Chinese school, I felt somewhat out of place, being the only white child in a group of local Chinese-American children. After attending classes for a few months, I started to see a stark difference between me and the other students: I genuinely wanted to go to class and learn, while the other students unfortunately were forced by their parents. My teachers at the Chinese school saw the interest I had, and made sure to always encourage me to study hard and practice my language skills every day. Due to my genuine passion for this beautiful language, I excelled quickly. Whenever I had the chance, I was always listening to Chinese music, watching Chinese TV shows and movies, reading Chinese books and the news, and surfing the web in Chinese as well. It was because of my passion that I did the best I could to create a somewhat suitable language environment.

Through years and years of studying and working hard to master Chinese, I finally got the chance to visit the country I had longed for from the age of 5 years: China. It was the summer of 2012 when I made my first trip to China at the age of about 15. I took part in a teenager community service summer camp teaching English to young Chinese kids in Beijing. Due to the tight schedule of the summer camp and lack of free time, I was able to arrive in the city I hold dearest and deepest in my heart almost 6 days early: Beijing. Upon stepping off the airplane, it felt like a dream, almost not real, thinking to myself, “wow, am I really here?” I was able to stay with an aunty, a friend of my Chinese teacher. I stayed with her son’s grandfather for those first 6 days in Beijing. Visiting all the famous tourist attractions and culture sites, was a dream come true for me; especially Tiananmen Square and the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. I finally had the chance to use my Chinese skills, something that I had been practicing for almost 10 years at the time. It was amazing being able to go around the city by myself and communicate with the local people, even though my oral Chinese was not as good then.

Soon after completing my time at the summer camp, I returned to the US to continue my high school studies. Not long after returning, I set a goal for myself to return to China, and worked hard to earn my plane ticket money. Two years later, in April 2014, I returned to Beijing for 2 weeks. Upon graduating high school, I came back to China to help an American whom I had met in 2012 by volunteering at his own summer camp. So the day after high school graduation, I left for Zhenjiang city in Jiangsu province in June 2015, where I stayed for almost 2 months.

Each time I visited China, I felt my Chinese improve little by little. To be honest, after I met my girlfriend in Beijing in June 2015, my Chinese started to quickly improve. Through the relationship with her I decided to drop out of my college in the US, and apply to Beijing Language and Culture University for my bachelor’s degree. At BLCU, I majored in Chinese language, further deepening my love for Chinese as well as for China. In the classroom every day, I loved having the opportunity to speak Chinese to everyone I saw, on campus and outside of campus. Today, I am continuing my studies at Beijing Language and Culture University, studying for my master’s degree in international politics.

After studying Chinese for almost 20 years, my Chinese level has surpassed my English level in some respects. I believe that anyone who wants to learn a foreign language must have the discipline and determination to study it for their whole life. I still have much to learn about the Chinese language and about China, but I will always continue to share China’s story, and tell others about the beauty of the Chinese language, and the history of China, so they gain interest in learning Chinese and in visiting China. I will always serve as a kind of Chinese language and culture ambassador, encouraging more people to study our beautiful language: Chinese. Having the opportunity to study the language I love, and live in the country I not only love but now call my motherland, and seeing more and more people learn Chinese and visit China, telling China’s story to the world and encouraging people not only makes me happy, but also feel honored in that I can do my part in spreading the Chinese language and culture around the globe.