我不叫Peter或Bob,我叫汪宗楠
初到瑞典,汪宗楠同学就遇到了culture shock,他把自己困在一座难以逃脱的文化孤岛里,无法自如地与外国人交流。每次社交时,他都急切地想要静静地逃走。然而,他凭借着他独具特色的中文名逃离了文化孤岛,他是怎么做到的呢?
凭借讲诉这段经历的演讲,他闯入第25届中国日报社“21世纪·可口可乐杯”全国英语演讲比赛总决赛最终获得一等奖。
No Person Is an Island
Finally, it's my turn.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Afternoon,
I was born and raised in Sichuan, a low-lying basin surrounded by mountains, mountains, and more mountains. A place I'd call it "an inland island". The lack of access to the outside provinces, especially in the old days, nurtured the unique "Sichuan personality" that is known to be happy, friendly, and chill...or except that sometimes we are a bit too happy and too chill to care about the outside world.
Last year, I went to Sweden as an exchange student. I thought I finally left the "island", until I found myself trapped on a cultural island that was more difficult to escape.
When I was in Sweden, I encountered many instances of culture shock. For example, I couldn't get used to the fact that in the western culture everyone seems to have the ability to start a random conversation with the strangers and appear perfectly at ease. When I was at social events, I usually wanted to finish my drink in front of me and leave before anyone noticed.
For a while I didn't understand how I can leave my own cultural island to reach theirs, until an intriguing moment at a dinner party.
At the party we were introducing ourselves to each other. And the conversation turned to me, and I realized that I didn’t give myself an English name. What's worse, my Chinese name is so hard for foreigners to pronounce. But just because of that, I was under the spotlight during that dinner party. Everyone of them started to practice my Chinese name again and again and tried to learn the cultural meaning behind it. It seemed that they were so happy to meet a Chinese student with a real Chinese name instead of Peter or Bob. One of them said "I'm glad to learn your real name because that's your culture and that's who you are."
I was touched by her words. I realized that I don't necessarily have to abandon my cultural island in order to connect with theirs. Every culture has its unique beauty. And all we need to do is to preserve our uniqueness while learning to appreciate the beauty of the other cultures.
So, I started to reach out, in the way I knew how. As a vlogger, I used many videos taken in China to answer nagging questions of my western friends about China, such as whether Chinese keyboards have hundreds of keys of Chinese characters; whether Sichuan people keep pandas as pets at home; whether everyone in China is a Kungfu master… Step by step, I'm trying to eliminate the stereotype of China and build more bridges to facilitate the different understanding of cultures.
Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world where everything is interconnected, physically and culturally. The bubble of one's culture should not preclude one from learning about each other for this is what we are here for. I have seen the beauty of my culture and the culture of other nations for which we should learn from each other as long as it is done in the spirit of honesty and respect. No person is an island. Let those words sink in for a second. Let us appreciate each other's culture and let diversity be our strength and guiding light. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
四年酝酿,等待破土
“磨破嘴皮子”的两周集训
四年之约,不负“使命”
十年磨剑终试刃
优秀集体,共勉共进
当脱口秀遇上英语演讲
凝心聚力育英才
教亦有方,育亦有道
吴老师对不同的学生运用不同的指导方法。她表示,每个学生的特点是不一样的,要因材施教,量体裁衣。对于幽默开朗的汪宗楠,吴老师也指导他从自己的亲身经历着手,以活泼轻松、妙趣横生的方式来讲故事。采访中她说道:“我觉得对于学生来说,比赛结果都不是那么重要,享受整个过程才是最重要的。”
为了更好地指导汪宗楠,吴老师时常让自己的同事、研究生给他提意见,也曾请来王冠为他指点。此外,在日常生活中,吴老师也让学生阅读各类书籍,让他们学会提炼、梳理与总结。
*部分内容转载自中传新闻传播学部
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