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Miscellaneous See other Miscellaneous Articles Title: Boosting Mandarin in America HOUSTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- So enchanted by the splendor of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Marsha Louis began her Mandarin classes the next day, curious to know more about the people who could create such a spectacular event. Two and a half years later, Marsha, now a student at the Confucius Institute at the University of South Florida, wowed judges and audience members at a Chinese language contest in Houston, Texas, with a performance in clapper talk, a Chinese folk vocal art form, telling the story about the Chinese legendary figure Monkey King who escorted Buddhist Xuan Zang on a pilgrimage for the Buddhist Scriptures. "I went to China two summers ago. Last summer, I was there for 10 weeks studying under a professor who developed a program in Chinese business law," Marsha said. Marsha, 20, is among 15 students chosen from across the southern United States, to compete in the regional level of the Chinese Bridge Competition 2011 at the Chinese Consulate in Houston. Speaking to the contestants, Consul General Gao Yanping said: "Language is so important for all communications, for mutual understanding and friendship ... That's very important not only for our generation but for future generations." Joe Salatino and his wife, from Texas, echoed Gao's remarks. The Salatinos have been to China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. A couple of years ago, the Salatinos encouraged their son Roland and daughter Marisa to enroll in a Chinese language course offered by local community schools. Marisa, 15, took first place in Sunday's competition after singing and accompanying herself on a violin in a traditional Chinese love story. She travels to China to compete for the world Chinese speaking championship. Marisa, who hopes to major in international business or law in college, has been to China twice and was most recently on a two-week excursion during which she lodged with a Chinese family. "China is such a world power, but when I got into the language, which is written and spoken so incredibly, I knew it was a really good thing to get involved in. It's so different and I thought it was so neat. Everyone stands up and says hello and thank you to the teacher. We don't do that here," she said. Roland, winner of last year's individual top prize, was visibly happy to see his younger sibling beat out the competition, earning the most of a possible 10 points given for fluency, appropriateness and entertainment value of the three-minute speech. "I was terrible in Spanish and I wanted to try something different, so when the school started having Chinese classes, my parents said China is where the world is going to be," Roland said. Gregory Lestrapes, a 14-year-old student from Austin, Texas, has been studying Chinese since he was 5. He has visited China twice and used his Mandarin to explore the culture, history and people. At Sunday's event, he finished in second place after demonstrating Chinese martial arts kungfu and playing a Chinese flute after his speech. "I talked about when I went to Xi'an, where the terracotta warriors are and people drive rickshaws around the wall of the city. My tour group from my school was inside the museum so I went outside and a rickshaw driver said he'd take me all around the city walls for free," Gregory said. "These people are really old... So I said I'd take the ride, but I told him, 'You get in the back and I'll drive you around.' It wasn't so easy, because the bicycle was old and rusted out, the brake is a string that you pushed with your foot. I managed to stop just three feet before we went off the wall," Gregory said. Gregory also visited a multitude of shops to find a particular flute-like instrument, dizi. "That has a hole covered with sword grass and the day before we left Shanghai, I bought it. I bought another one on the internet." He used the dizi to accompany his story of a woman making a handmade wallet for her boyfriend -- an ancient traditional tale of devotion. Gregory said his devotion would not diminish even after he attends college, possibly in China, where he plans to learn to speak fluent Chinese. Advanced Placement (AP) tests in Chinese have grown since their 2007 introduction. Chinese is among the most popular languages taught in schools. According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, close to 50,000 students are studying Chinese now, compared with an estimated 5,000 back in 2000. A painting from China owned by Amy Lantrip's grandfather sparked her desire to overcome the obstacles foreigners have with getting the pronunciations correct. Now 17 and a high school senior, Amy almost feels her four years of Spanish weren't the best way to invest her time. "Ever since I was little, I loved Asian things. That painting is still on my wall. I started Chinese last year and I think Chinese is the most important language since China is going to be a world leader," she said. Her future plans may be a bit on the ambitious side. "If I'm lucky, I'd like to be a diplomat to China," Amy said. "Even luckier? I would be secretary of state for at least one (presidential) administration." Editor: Zhang Xiang
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