Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
Please tell me if this answers the question, indicate any glaring mistakes, or just give some advice.
Thanks!
When I became a 7th grader our high school introduced a new subject to the curriculum - Mandarin Chinese. We were the first class to be offered this subject and the few curious ones, including me, decided to study this new and seemingly bizarre language.
Our teacher was from China. He had moved to Greece recently and was a true carrier of his culture. In fact, in the first two years not only were we struggling with the language, but also struggling to overcome a subtle cultural barrier between teacher and students. However, as time went by I got a better taste of this previously unknown to me language and culture. I began to understand the different approach to language in China as opposed to that of most western languages. For instance, if in English we depend on the structure of the word, the different syllables to discern between meanings, in Chinese it is the actual intonation of a syllable that determines the meaning. So a syllable like "san" could have 5 different meanings depending on the intonation with which it is pronounced.
Something that also amazed me was Chinese poetry. If the poems in English and similar languages rhyme by having words with similar syllable endings, Chinese poetry does not necessarily require this to rhyme. Instead, two seemingly different word endings which have the same intonation in the end could be considered as rhyming.
Overall, studying Chinese up to IGCSE level was an amazing experience. I had the chance to submerge myself into a different world, and I think I can now reflect back on these lessons and say that I view the world from a more global perspective.
Interestingly, my Chinese teacher ended up telling me that he had worked in a team on a project for CERN a few years ago, which I found exciting and I guess this was one of the many factors that contributed to my growing interest in science over the years. This 5 year long experience has therefore had an immense impact on me as a person, and my intellectual development.
Please tell me if this answers the question, indicate any glaring mistakes, or just give some advice.
Thanks!
When I became a 7th grader our high school introduced a new subject to the curriculum - Mandarin Chinese. We were the first class to be offered this subject and the few curious ones, including me, decided to study this new and seemingly bizarre language.
Our teacher was from China. He had moved to Greece recently and was a true carrier of his culture. In fact, in the first two years not only were we struggling with the language, but also struggling to overcome a subtle cultural barrier between teacher and students. However, as time went by I got a better taste of this previously unknown to me language and culture. I began to understand the different approach to language in China as opposed to that of most western languages. For instance, if in English we depend on the structure of the word, the different syllables to discern between meanings, in Chinese it is the actual intonation of a syllable that determines the meaning. So a syllable like "san" could have 5 different meanings depending on the intonation with which it is pronounced.
Something that also amazed me was Chinese poetry. If the poems in English and similar languages rhyme by having words with similar syllable endings, Chinese poetry does not necessarily require this to rhyme. Instead, two seemingly different word endings which have the same intonation in the end could be considered as rhyming.
Overall, studying Chinese up to IGCSE level was an amazing experience. I had the chance to submerge myself into a different world, and I think I can now reflect back on these lessons and say that I view the world from a more global perspective.
Interestingly, my Chinese teacher ended up telling me that he had worked in a team on a project for CERN a few years ago, which I found exciting and I guess this was one of the many factors that contributed to my growing interest in science over the years. This 5 year long experience has therefore had an immense impact on me as a person, and my intellectual development.
