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VOICES | Open your Eyes


05 December 2018 | By Wang Qinglun | Copyedited by Zhao Yinfen

F

irst day on campus, my mum took a walk with me.

“How I envy you,” She said, “you can major in English.”

I knew my mum had an unrealized dream of learning and working on English, but I never asked why she let it go.

“Because my father, your grandpa, said I wasn’t pretty enough.”

I was amused—does appearance has anything to do with English study? She explained to me that back then English majors were believed to become no more than a secretary—you know that kind of lady whose career relies more on good looks than professional skills.

So instead of applying for a language school, my mum became a nurse, a decent job for a small-town girl.

At that time, I took my mum’s story only as another joke about my grandparents’ ridiculous stereotypes, in whose minds English majors have few career choices. I felt sorry for my mother but thought she should have defended her dream despite others’ discouragements.

On the contrary, my language journey went on quite well. I could sit in the library reading English classics with professors’ guidance. I could spend hours a day practicing interpreting with my peers. I took those opportunities for granted. I thought learning English was a cool thing but no more than that.

Till last year, I travelled abroad as a delegate in model United Nations, which changed my mind. When I scratched my head to find a word to make myself understood at the meeting, I realized speaking English was not some fancy skill or empty ambition, but a must. When I saw how hard it was for a delegation to make a voice in multilateral negotiation, I realized bilinguals and diplomats are indeed the voice of a nation.

So the point is a need and necessity.

Before I went abroad, speaking English was a fancy skill rather than a need. Before China opens up to the world, speaking English was a performance rather than a necessity.

For people in a small town, they need carpenters, cooks as well as lawyers and doctors, but not English speakers. And for a girl born there, my mum hardly had any opportunity to participate in cross-cultural activities.

At that time, not only my grandparents and my mother, but a nation, didn’t open their eyes towards the world.

It was never an easy task. It took China forty years to push ahead with “Reform and Opening up”, as it took a generation—from my mother to me—to see the brightening future for English majors.

But we are finally moving. When opening eyes, people see a growing demand for English speakers in almost all walks of life; when opening eyes, China seeks for more visionary development in the international arena.

Now I am following my mother’s dream. Now the millennials are taking over the baton. Ahead we see a long way to go, and I will go.

 

This is one of the award-winning speech scripts in the 2018 China Daily“21st Century · Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition SISU Final. The author, Wang Qinglun, is an undergraduate student of SISU.

 

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Press Contact

SISU News Center, Office of Communications and Public Affairs

Tel : +86 (21) 3537 2378

Email : news@shisu.edu.cn

Address :550 Dalian Road (W), Shanghai 200083, China

Further Reading