New Zealand High School Student Telesia Tanoa'i: Overseas Students from China Encourage Me to Study Chinese

In the 16th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students, Telesia Tanoa'i, a 11-grade student of Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in Wellington, New Zealand, won the championship of the Oceania group with her outstanding performance. She shared her experience, insight and feeling about learning Chinese language.

Telesia Tanoa'i is champion of the Oceania group, and the youth ambassador for New Zealand's "Chinese Language Week". Influenced by her mother, she started learning Mandarin Chinese from childhood.

It is worth mentioning that her mother is a former New Zealand's diplomat who can speak multiple languages. She seems to have inherited her mother's excellent genes. In addition to Mandarin Chinese, she also learns Samoan, Maori, and French.

"Thanks to my parents who saw the value of language courses. During my growth, we had the opportunity to travel around." "A huge driver for me to learn Chinese is that some of my best friends are Chinese and overseas students in New Zealand. I enjoy learning from them and sharing my Samoan culture with them," said Telesia Tanoa'i.

Another driver is "to explore issues that affect Pacific people with global audiences, such as the climate change". The Chinese speech shared by Telesia Tanoa'i on this topic has been viewed 150,000 times on TikTok.

Telesia Tanoa'i hopes that her success in the competition could encourage others to learn Chinese, and open up a world full of opportunities and international experience.