Submitted by ciurce on
My name is Christian RUKUNDO, my Chinese name is Lu SiCheng, I am 33 years old, I was born and raised in Kigali Rwanda and I am currently living in Nyarugunga sector Kicukiro District. I was born in a family of four (4) children, two (2) young brothers and an older sister.
Since I was in high school, my favorite courses were languages, I loved languages very much. When I finished the first phase of secondary school, they gave me a major of languages at Saint Andrew College in Nyamirambo but my family denied it and I was given another option of Information Technology. I was frustrated and angry because I wanted to learn literature and languages. I continued to study IT with success but my heart remained at languages. I joined many clubs at school like English club, French club and Italian club.
Reasons why I studied Chinese:
I remember when I was at work with my clients, a friend of mine who is an international businessman came to see me and we started to have a conversation, and he started to ask me about my knowledge in languages. I told him that I speak English, French and Kinyarwanda. He immediately suggested me to study Chinese and I was like well, let's give it a try. He told me about Confucius Institute in RWANDA and I remember I was registered the same day.
The study of the Chinese language opens the way to different important fields such as Chinese politics, economy, history or archaeology. But to study Chinese finally means to study a culture, a people. At the heart of Chinese civilization is its rich heritage of novels, short stories, poetry, drama, and, more recently, film. They reflect the values, the struggles, the sensibility, the joys and the sorrows of this great people and often offer insights even into the most intimate feelings of people in the past or into high-level Beijing politics at the present that cannot be found anywhere else. These works help you understand what is behind the language, what makes it powerful, and how it actually functions in Chinese society. To be at ease and effective in a Chinese environment learning the language is half the battle, but knowing about the culture behind the language is the other.
Other seasons:
1. China is the major partner of Africa. It invested billions of dollars in Africa and so many Chinese investors are investing in Africa. In the near future they will hire people who speak Chinese.
2. International businesses prefer to hire people who speak more than one language. China has become a huge market, and business leaders are looking for people who can speak Chinese and operate successfully in a Chinese cultural context.
3. Knowing Chinese may give you an edge when competing for an important position.
4. China will play a major role in world affairs in the future. As China now has opened up to the West, there are opportunities for employment in all areas.
5. China is a wonderful country in which to teach English while developing your language and cultural skills. The experience is great, and it’s something you will never forget.
Motivation:
I got motivated by my friend and they say that if you don’t change only change will change you. I must learn Chinese because I love languages even if it is very difficult I will work hard to the end. And I am sure that after two (2) years, I will know how to write, speak and read Chinese. I’d like also to encourage my classmates to keep learning hard Chinese and don’t give up. It gets worse because it gets better.
作者简介：Christian RUKUNDO（中文姓名：卢思成），卢旺达大学孔子学院社会班学员。