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de ur ans wers on the separate answer sheet. ny” A year in China How a year in China’s ‘romantic city' helped Hannes Ortner leamm Chinese, cuina, Dalian is known as the ‘romantic city, and mn € my year studying Chinese at Dalian Forei age University, I certainly fell in lo to 9, ve: the lan is the Key 10 2 fascinating way of life, whil uage Is — le the city itself de gusto runded by green hills and the ocean, and overlooked n a marvellous castle that I always meant to visit while I was here. palian is generally quite a new city, without the long cultural history of Beijing, and the Skyscrapers that have appeared in recent years are evidence of China's position as he world's fastest-growing economy. The boom has seen the number of foreigners coming to the country to Jean Chinese increase enormously, and I was thankful that relatively few Westerners have discovered Dalian. 1 rarely had the opportunity to use Chinese in everyday situations in China’s bigger cities, where European tourists are everywhere and young people are keen to practise their English. 1 was the only Westerner in my class. After a four-hour oral exam and a written test, I was placed in a post-intermediate group with 12 people — all Asians. I was already three years into a four-year degree in Chinese culture and language, but itwas still difficult to keep up with the Japanese and Korean students, who were much more familiar with Chinese characters (the symbols used in the written language). One of the big disadvantages at the University of Vienna had been the large classes, with 30-40 people trying to learn Chinese in just four hours a week. In Dalian we were taught five days a week for three hours plus another four hours one afternoon a week. Some of the older teachers still used traditional teaching methods, concentrating on reading texts, listening to tapes and learning by oral repetition, and although it initially took me a while to become accustomed to this, it really helped us improve our skills. We had three teachers but Mrs Lin soon became our Reading Part 1 BR favourite. I was fortunate enough to have six weeks of helped me broaden my horizons. additional classes with this wonderful lady after 1 was chosen to take part in the Dalian Chinese speech competition. In Preparation for the event, we met for two hours a day to Work on my pronunciation using a text she had written called ‘I love Dalian”. I found the whole experience quite demanding — from the intense training to speaking in front of a large audience (including Chinese teachers) — but it was the best language training I have ever received and I thank my patient teachers for the fact that I eventually won the competition. It was this experience that made me determined to perfect my command of the language. Chinese is sometimes said to be one of the most difficult languages to learn, mainly because ofits complex grammar, writing system (which uses a vast number of characters) and system of tones (every syllable in standard Chinese can be pronounced in four different ways depending on meaning). But Mrs Lin knew how to explain things in a simple way and, with her as my teacher, I realised that Chinese does not deserve its reputation for difficulty. The second term had already started when I decided to move out of my Western-style flat and into a more traditional Chinese one, and I had to fill out a number of official documents. For Westerners in China, moving house involves re-registering at the police station and a certain amount of form-filling. On several occasions I had to bite my lip and remember that young Asian people coming to the West to study would probably have to go through a similar procedure, but in the end I was able to move into my new place. 62 During that second term I got my head down and concentrated on improving my language skills before returning to Austria to finish my degree. I adore China — its magnificent landscapes, its people with their unique history and, above all, its language, which introduced me to a new way of thinking and a rich cultural history, and ultimately Test4 | 127 
