Monica is a German- Italian, who has lived in Shanghai for 3 years, and start to study with Mandarin Inn 3 months ago. She think it is really important to learn Chinese as a foreigner! Not being able to communicate at least a bit with people in a new country is too frustrating. Interested in what she considers the most important method of learning Chinese? Let’s have a look together!
Monica是一个德国意大利混血，她已经在上海生活三年了，3个月前开始在Mandarin Inn学习中文。她觉得对于外国人来说学习中文非常重要，因为在一个新的国家完全都不能跟当地人交流会让人觉得很沮丧。很好奇她有什么好的学习中文的方法，我们一起来看一下吧！
Q: Please tell us how long you have stayed in China, how long you have studied at Mandarin Inn, what kind of course you are learning, and which level you are.
请告诉我们你在中国待了多久，在Mandarin Inn学习了多久，你正在学习的课程是什么，以及你目前的汉语水平等级。
A: My name is Monica, I am German-Italian, and am a sworn translator and foreign language teacher for Italian, German and English.I was born in Italy, my mother is German, my father Italian, and at the age of 18 I moved to Germany for study and work.So I grew up bilingual, and with a sort of “double cultural identity”, living my childhood and teen years in a Mediterranean country and carrying the German language, culture and mentality with me.Having gone to the linguistic high school and learning with passion foreign languages as English and French, I always had a deep interest for knowing new cultures and new languages. At that younger age I would have never imagined, one day, to learn Chinese and to live in China, Shanghai, where I have been living already for 3 years.
我叫莫妮卡，是德国意大利混血。我是一名翻译，也是意大利语、德语和英语的外语教师。我出生在意大利，母亲是德国人，父亲是意大利人。18岁时我搬到德国学习和工作。因此，我在双语环境中长大，具有某种 “双重文化身份”。我的童年和青少年时期生活在地中海国家，拥有着德语、德国的文化和思维。我上过语言高中，很有激情地学习了英语和法语等外语。我对了解新文化和新语言一直有着浓厚的兴趣。在年轻的时候，我从未想过有一天会学习中文并在中国上海生活，现在我已经在这里生活了3年。
Q: Why did you come to China?
你为什么来中国？
A: I came to China because of work. I am a German teacher at a university. My students learn German in an intense course for about 2 years and try hard to reach a good level. After passed a difficult exam, they obtain a study place in Germany, where they keep doing their study in German and even make their final exam in this foreign language.
我因为工作而来到中国。我是一所大学的德语教师。我的学生通过两年的密集课程学习德语，去达到一个比较好的水平。在通过很有难度的考试后，他们获得了在德国学习的机会，在那里他们继续用德语学习，甚至在最后的考试中用德语考试。
Q: Do you think it is useful for foreigners to learn Mandarin? Why? And why you’d like to learn Mandarin?
你认为外国人学习中文有用吗，为什么? 你为什么想学中文?
A: I think it is really important to learn Chinese as a foreigner! Not being able to communicate at least a bit with people in a new country is too frustrating. After some time of private Chinese lessons at home, I needed a pause because I was too busy with family and work. But after a while, I really noticed how terrible it is not be able to communicate quite well with people in a foreign country where one lives. So I made up my mind to look for a good Chinese language school. As I got to know Mandarin Inn School some time ago because of a nice Dragon Boat Festival program, I decided to give it a try with this school. So I started a course the beginning of May, and was able to develope good progresses in my language learning process.
我认为作为一个外国人，学习中文真的很重要! 在一个新的国家，一点都不能跟当地人沟通真的让人很沮丧。 我在家里上了一段时间的私教课，但由于工作和生活太忙暂停了。但一段时间后，我真的注意到，居住的国外，不能很好地与人交流是多么可怕的事情。因此，我下定决心要寻找一所好的中文学校。之前，我参加了Mandarin Inn的一个端午节活动，我决定在这个学校试一试。于是我在五月初开始了课程，我觉得我进步了很多。
Q: As a good student, how do you learn Mandarin? Would you like to share your tips?
作为一名好学生，你是如何学习中文的? 你想分享一下自己的学习建议吗? 你学中文的时候是怎样激励自己的?
A: I really enjoy being student of Chinese Language at Mandarin Inn School because here I can get a lot of so interesting and helpful digital material to study with, everywhere, at any time!Also having been invited into a Mandarin Inn students chat with a nice teacher really encourages me every single day to read, listen, speak and understanding better grammar. This is so gorgeous because just some minutes a day at cellphone are so effective for a successful learning habit.
我非常喜欢在Mandarin Inn学习中文，因为在这里我可以随时随地得到很多有趣和有用的在线资料来学习。此外，我还被邀请加入了学校的学生群，里面有一位非常好的老师。这真的非常鼓励我每天去阅读、听、说和更好的理解语法。这真是太好了，因为每天只是在手机上花几分钟就养成了一个很好的学习习惯。
Q: Would you like to talk something about your teacher, do you like him/her? And What kinds of teacher’s behavior will encourage you to learn Mandarin?
你想谈谈你的老师吗，你喜欢他/她吗? 老师什么样的行为会鼓励你学习中文?
A: An important motivating factor in the language learning process is the teacher, of course. I really like my teacher Lili!She is so calm and positive, explaining with patience and even trying to sometimes challenge me to train my foreign language ‘intuition’. Having studies foreign languages, I learned Such a behaviour encourages me time after time to be constant and not give up when I am tired and some grammar or characters seem quite difficult to me.
语言学习过程中的一个重要激励因素当然是老师。我非常喜欢我的老师Lili!她是如此平静、积极，耐心，甚至有时还试图挑战我，以训练我的外语 “直觉”。因为学习过很多外语，我知道这样的行为一次又一次地鼓励我坚持下去，在我疲惫的时候，在一些语法或汉字对我来说相当困难的时候，不要放弃。
Q: We just got through a very tough time in Shanghai, during these time, how do you keep learning Chinese?
在上海的我们都刚刚经历了一段不太容易的时间，在这段时间里，你是怎么保持学习中文的呢？
A: During this so hard time in Shanghai we have gone through, I really appreciate the online modus and the possibility, to access to the whole course material by Wechat.Without this and without my gorgeous teacher I would probably have given up. I was happyto take part to the online free evening class which Mandarin Inn offers once a month, to meet people who are ‘in the same boat’, going thorough pandemic and also still willing to keep studying Mandarin.
在我们刚经历的这段在上海很艰难的时间里，我真的很感谢在线上课的模式和通过微信上的服务号来获取学习资料的方式。如果没有这些，如果没有我优秀的老师，我可能已经放弃了。我很高兴参加了Mandarin Inn每月一次的在线免费公开课，以结识 “同道中人”。疫情当下，但仍然愿意继续学习中文。
Q: You are keeping doing online class, how do you feel about it?
你一直在上线课，你觉得在线上课怎么样？
A: No suggestions it is very well organized, I find. If I will later, I will let you know.
目前为止没有任何意见，因为课程组织得非常好。如果后有，我会告诉你。
Q: We are doing free public online class recently, how do you feel about it, and do you have any suggestion, or do you have any subject you are interested?
我们最近一直在做免费的公开课，你觉得怎么样？有没有什么建议给到我们，或者你有没有特别感兴趣的主题呢？
A: I find your online free classes a very good offer to encourage students and persons, who did not yet book a course at Mandarin Inn, to start to learn or improve Mandarin.I participated in most of them and liked to meet and see other students, through out of China, too. Please, don’t stop this nice evenings where people of different coins can meet and learn new things with so professional Teacher Sofia.
我觉得Mandarin Inn的免费公开课是一个很好的课程，因为可以鼓励一些还未报名或者还未开始学习中文的人开始学习。我参加了大多数的活动，而且非常开心看到了中国各地的其它学生。所以请你们不要取消这么好的活动，在这里不同国家的人相聚一起跟专业的Sofia老师学习中文。
Q: Do you have any interesting thing during your Mandarin study or the problems you meet in your daily life as the language to share to us？
在你学习中文的过程中，你有没有特另有意思的事情，或者在日常生活中有没有遇到什么语言引起的问题，可以跟我们分享一下呢？
A: My biggest problem is to have too many people around me who speak English or German,it is sometimes difficult to train my Chinese. I would like to try to speak more what I actually know. Mandarin is for me a fascinating language, so challenging, which really needs time dedicated to. I am going to plan more time and opportunities to better exercise my oral speaking.
我最大的问题是我周围有太多讲英语或德语的人，有时很难锻炼我的中文。我想尝试说更多我已经掌握的东西。对我来说，中文是一门迷人的语言，非常具有挑战性，真的需要花时间去学习。我将计划更多的时间和机会来更好地锻炼我的口语。
Q: Finally, please say a your favourite Chinese sentence, and why.
最后，请说出一个你最喜欢的汉语句子，并说明原因。
A: 留得青山在， 不怕没柴烧。（liú dé qīng shān zài ， bù pà méi chái shāo）It means ”there is always hope“.Hope for a better future, hope for learning a difficult language as Mandarin at a good level to be able to communicate better with Chinese people.
这意思是 “总是有希望”。希望有一个更好的未来，希望能把中文这种难懂的语言学好，能够更好地与中国人交流。（完）
