China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Russian teenager takes 1st prize in Chinese Bridge competition Ruslan Ustinov impresses judges with passion for learning Mandarin
“The Chinese language is the love of my life. I hope the romance will never fade,” Russian student Ruslan Ustinov, 19, said in perfect Mandarin.
Ustinov was crowned champion of the 17th Chinese Bridge, a Chinese-language competition for foreign college students, in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, on Aug 4.
Over 150 contestants from more than 100 countries — the best Chinese-speaking students in their homelands — took part in this year’s contest, combining language, culture and fun.
In his final-round speech, Ustinov expressed his love of Chinese learning. As an economics major, he also outlined a career plan based on his studies.
“China and Russia are friendly neighbors,” he said. “The bilateral economic and trade exchanges are increasingly close. The courier service in China is so fast, which always makes me euphoric. I want to introduce China’s fast courier service to Russia one day, as well as more quality Chinese products.”
Ustinov’s hometown, Chita, is located on the Sino-Russian border. He visited China for the first time with his father at age 4, and began to learn Chinese
The more I learned Chinese, the more interested I became.” Ruslan Ustinov, champion of the 17th Chinese Bridge contest
at 6. He initially learned simple words like “hello” and “thank you” from Chinese people living in his neighborhood.
After entering middle school, he began to systematically study the language every day. “The more I learned Chinese, the more interested I became,” he said.
His pronunciation was not very “Chinese”, as his teachers were Russian. But four years ago, his family moved to Novosibirsk, where Chinese teachers at the Confucius Institute helped his Mandarin improve rapidly.
He said the most difficult part was the tonal nature of Chinese pronunciation. “The Russian tone is very flat, while Chinese intonation changes a lot,” he said.
His strategy for overcoming the difficulty was simple — “engage in more exchanges with the Chinese people”, he said. The biggest improvement came from his experience as a tour guide for Chinese people. At the beginning, he was worried the tourists would not understand him. But as the tourists were so enthusiastic, he became more confident about speaking the language, and his oral Chinese improved.
In a short time, he was able to fluently introduce the history, culture and customs of Russia, and could even point out which local specialties were worth a try when shopping in markets.
Ustinov said he found the competition more like a Chinese class. “Besides the language, I have also learned the history and culture of China, and made many good friends from all over the world,” he said.
One of the judges for the final, Herbert Mushangwe, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe, in Harare, said, “The Chinese language learning and Chinese Bridge competition let the world see the splendidness of different cultures and the charm of Chinese learning.”
Ustinov said he would take a short break in Russia after the competition before returning to China next month to continue his studies for another two years.