Polyglot (i.e. Language Nerd)
MandarinNATIVE
My mother tongue.
The language spoken in my hometown (the Northeastern part of China) is a dialect of Mandarin, with an accent famous for hilarious "sketch comedy" (小品 xiǎopǐn) at CCTV's New Year's Gala before 2011.
Though I'm able to understand ~40% of Shanghainese due to 6 years of occasional exposure, I couldn't speak it. I've always wished I could have the chance to learn another Chinese.
EnglishC1/C2
Started at 6. It has become my primary language for academics and profession.
- Middle School: Video games played on XBOX360 in English
- University: Bachelor program fully taught in English by an international team
- Courses: Scored A and A- in Academic Writing I & II
- ToEFL iBT: Scored 110 without preparation
- Engaged in Reddit & other online English communities
GermanC1
Started at 20 at university with Prof. XIE Quanbo. Passed C1-level exam.
"Der Mensch erkennt sich nur im Menschen, nur das Leben lehret jedem, was er sei."
French~B1
Started at 13 with my dear Canadian professeure Catherine Forestier. I can impress people by faking a rather authentic French accent, which I find quite fun.
Japanese
Started at 16 with tons of J-Drama, movie, manga, anime. Have quite a vocabulary and can understand to some certain degree while struggle to express myself fluently.
『本当に廻り道だった、本当に、本当に、 なんて遠い廻り道……』
Latin
Started at 21 with Prof. LI Juan using Unikurs Latein. Learning Latin has given me insights into the roots and connections of Romance languages, as well as enhanced my understanding of etymology and history.
Big fan of polýMATHY. Looking forward to speaking Latin in Vatican city and understanding the new pope's speech after "Habemus Papam".(That's not a curse to you your holiness Leo XIV XD)
Sanskrit
Started at 21 with Prof. WANG Pin using Stenzler's Elementarbuchto explore the early Indo-european language, and to truly understand Buddhist scripts translated to Chinese.
Click on words to inspect translation & grammar
"By effort indeed the tasks succeed, not by mere wishes."