Classical Chinese is the form of written Chinese that was based off of Ancient Chinese. Classical Chinese is difficult for many Chinese when they learn Chinese, much less foreigners. However, this summer, a young American student named Daniel, with a particularly “traditional” Chinese name – Xunyuan Liu, came to our school. His Chinese was already very good, as he was an advanced student, and although our school’s intermediate and advanced students are increasing, he was special, in that he was interested in Classical Chinese. Thus, besides just trying to improve the accuracy of his pronunciation, he was mostly interested in studying classical Chinese.
At the beginning, we were worried whether or not a foreign student would be able to understand Classical Chinese, and whether or not they would come across too many difficulties. But after the first class, the teacher who teaches Daniel was surprised to discover that this young foreign student had an understanding of Classical Chinese that had surpassed all of our expectations, and had a clear concept of some of the grammar of Classical Chinese. His teacher said; “He has very clear goals and effective reviewing methods, even though during his first few classes his pronunciation had some relatively large problems. By going through a sequential set of lessons, his pronunciation has made large improvement every day, which is very difficult to do under most circumstances, because for most advanced students, pronunciation is already ingrained and natural, and not at all easy to change.”
Daniel said: “The reason I study Classical Chinese is because I’m interested in this country’s culture, as well as Ancient Chinese history and politics. Learning Classical Chinese is one of the best methods to understand these, as well as a way to improve my Modern Chinese at the same time. After my four weeks here, I am going back to America to go to grad school, but I plan to continue studying as much as possible during this time.”
We were surprised that a student this young whose Chinese was this good, and gratified that a foreign student was this interested in Chinese culture and history. Now, we wish that Daniel’s studies go smoothly, and hope him all the best.
