Chasing a Chinese dream

“Are you a Chinese reporter?” a girl wearing a red volunteer T-shirt, with hair wrapped up in a beige headscarf, asked in Mandarin.

After receiving an affirmative answer from a Xinhua journalist, she smiled and said: “I can speak a little Chinese.”

The girl, who called herself Fangfang, is a first-year student at a university in Jakarta, specializing in public relations.

She is one of 13,000 volunteers working at the Asian Games, and their efforts are indispensable for the smooth running of events.

Fangfang’s job is to deal with the media, including assisting journalists and inputting athletes’ comments into the information service system.

“I especially like receiving emails from reporters. They ask me various questions and I answer them,” she enthused.

Fangfang also relishes the opportunity to speak with Chinese journalists and athletes as she looks to hone her Mandarin skills.

“When I was a child, I watched Chinese news programs with my father. Although I didn’t understand it then, Chinese sounded special to me,” she said.

“Also, I like China and I am very interested in Chinese culture, so I decided to learn Chinese,” she added.

Fangfang began learning Mandarin in January last year and is currently taking a private course in the language.

At first she was stressed trying to remember the characters, but after studying for more than a year “it is much better now”.

In her spare time, Fangfang also learns to sing Chinese songs by listening to them online.

Fangfang plans to study Mandarin for a year after graduating from university, and then hopes to study “management” in China in 2020.

But her real dream is to become a photographer.

“I will visit various areas in China during weekends and holidays after I go there to study, and I will take a lot of photos there,” she said with a beaming smile.

“Now I always seek opportunities to practice speaking Chinese, but sometimes I can’t make myself understood.”

Such obstacles don’t deter Fangfang, however, and, on the evidence of her enthusiasm in the mixed zone here in Jakarta, a fluent future beckons for this diligent student.