Shining My Light on Bilingualism and Fulbright. Olga Aleksandrovna Litvinova

This part of New York is so enticing and intriguing for all senses: those smells of fresh fish, Chinese spoken in every corner, those red lanterns lining the streets and waving lucky cats in every shop window, people elbowing their way through the crowds… Even though my country borders China, I have never felt closer to it than I did right here in Manhattan. Walking through some of the Chinatown streets on the way to our big dinner at a Chinese restaurant after seeing a traditional parade, I asked Suqin whether what we saw, heard and smelled brought her back home. I watched as she took a moment to think and went, «It kind of does». That made me wonder what visiting Brighton Beach, a part of NYC heavily populated by Russian speakers would feel like…

      Happily stuffed with lots of Chinese dumplings and seafood, we sat down in Columbus Park in front of a monument to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, to have our talk.

      In China students begin learning English from middle school. The major focus of instruction is writing and reading. It wasn’t until Suqin started her PhD in Hong Kong that she began to use English as the main language, which she feels was a turning point on her journey. At the beginning she used to only resort to the phrases she knew how to use but then there was more focus on what idea she was looking to express, so she was searching for appropriate ways of getting her message across. That was how Suqin knew she was improving.

      At Chinese middle and high schools only paper tests used to be administered back when Suqin was a student, so there were no difficulties. At college speaking skills started being tested and that was when some problems were encountered. The teachers did their best to encourage their students to speak, but no one in class dared to speak up. Later on an oral test of English was also introduced.

      As English is compulsory for college entrance exams as well, it is learnt more as a science or «Chinese Math». There is never a goal to develop skills to eventually use this language.

      In Hong Kong where Suqin has been studying for her PhD English is spoken as a second language from kindergarten, which encourages bilingualism. As Hong Kong used to be governed by British people, high-status citizens speak good English. That is what everyone else aspires to be so they might even prefer it to Chinese.

      When it comes to attitudes to English in China, according to Suqin, there is no need to promote it there as the country is so big. It is literally useless in China to speak English in order to achieve a better life.

      Suqin uses English predominantly for her research which requires her to get in touch with colleagues from around the world and have her papers published in international journals. English is also a tool for self-branding as the better she speaks, the better impression she makes. Her PhD research looks at bereavement and grief where most theories are developed in Europe and the U.S.

      In the past Suqin wouldn’t notice any personality changes as she switched between the language. Now she becomes «Westernized» while speaking English and uses more gestures. She is also bilingual in Mandarin and Cantonese. Her family moved when she was 9 and Suqin learnt Cantonese from then on. She feels quite fluent but seldom uses very local phrases. At home she speaks a dialect of her province which is similar to Mandarin but some tones and slang are a bit different.

      Suqin started learning German two years ago just as a distraction from the pressure of her qualification exam. She could have chosen Spanish as well, but a lot of studies in her field are in German, which made the choice obvious.

      To anyone struggling with their speaking Suqin recommends doing what worked for her once as well, which is focusing on what to express rather than how to do that.

      ∞ At this point of my project I was able to see how Chinese was one of the languages my interviewees were eager to learn due to this country’s ever-growing economic influence. Suqin’s thoughts echoed the ideas of China’s self-sufficiency despite effort being made to teach English. There have been speculations as to whether Chinese might replace English as the world’s lingua franca or least whether people outside China are going to have to master a special variety of English used in China. With the currently shifting world order, we are going to have to wait and see how things pan out linguistically and how this is going to affect language learning and teaching in the long run.

      I am one of those individuals who isn’t up to the challenge of learning Chinese. I even refused a job in China which I was offered a few weeks after my return from the U.S. But of course, this decision has nothing to do with specific people. As a reminder of our friendship I’ve been keeping a red envelope with good-luck wishes she gave as a present for Lunar New Year 2018.