NEWS

ICU student wins second place in the 15th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students

Update: April 15, 2016

Ms. Yumeka Nosaka, a senior student of ICU College of Liberal Arts now on an exchange program at the University of Leeds in UK, participated in the British Regional Final of the 15th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students and won second prize as well as the "Most Eloquent Prize".

As a winner of the regional final, she will go to China this summer to participate in the world-wide competition to be held in Beijing.

Chinese Bridge is held every summer. Ms. Nosaka took part in the UK regional competition held to select representatives for UK and presented a speech and artistic performance (drama) in Chinese. In her speech titled "Who am I?" she talked about her experience when she visited China as a child, how she was fascinated by the Chinese culture and people, and her for growing passion for Japan-China friendship. She also performed a short part of a famous Chinese drama called "Yuan ye" (The Wilderness).

Comments by Ms. Nosaka

When I was in elementary school, my family moved to China due to my parent's job, so I had an opportunity to live in China for three years. I have been interested in the Chinese language since then. However, I had forgotten how to speak Chinese after I returned to Japan because I had little chance to use my Chinese. And so, I selected a Chinese course as my second foreign language at the University of Leeds where I was on an exchange program. My instructor encouraged me to take part in this speech contest. I thought it was a great chance for me and decided to take the challenge. But the training was much harder than I had imagined. I think the preparation period was the most difficult time during my exchange year in UK, while at the same time, the whole experience, including the day of the competition, was one of the most enriching and exciting experiences I have ever had. My teachers helped me a lot and I just can't stop saying "thank you" to them for their incredible support. I'm looking forward to the championship competition in summer. I hope I will be able to enjoy the valuable opportunity to the full.