By Michael Veith

One of the biggest compliments you can get when learning a language is being mistaken for a local. Sam Lee (class of 2010) received one such endorsement near the end of his intensive Mandarin studies.  “I was talking to a local Chinese lady and then when I told her I was Korean later on, she didn’t believe me.” He described the experience as the possible highlight of his year enrolled at Jinan University (JNU). Sam, originally a student at City University in Hong Kong, decided to take last year off and attend JNU in Guangzhou to improve his Mandarin. His schedule involved courses from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon everyday, with the rest of the day free, allowing him to relax and hang out with friends.

“It was just an exciting process overall. Through my elementary, middle school and high school education you normally build on knowledge you know already. With Mandarin, it was like starting something from the ground up. So its a process where you learn about how you learn.” However, he doesn’t attribute his year at Jinan University as the only reason for his greatly improved Mandarin. “I’d give some credit to the Mandarin teachers at TIS because they gave me a foundation to go off of.”

Sam is now back at City U, completing the third and final year of his Business Economics degree. After graduating next year, he is looking at attending law school.