Language Trainers Blog

A 15 year old from Glasgow has won a trip to Beijing in a Mandarin competition.

Ellie Koepplinger, who began learning Mandarin a year and a half ago, impressed judges in the Beginners category of the British Council Speaking Competition, held at the British Museum.

“It’s a beautiful language that’s full of cultural references and stories – there’s a history to every word and phrase. The way the characters are formulated is also fascinating. I want to become an international politician when I’m older and that means you will have to interact with China and the Chinese. The more people that learn Chinese the better-connected and richer Britain will be in the future. China is going to be a superpower and if we can speak their language it’s going to help us massively, so I think it’s great that the British Council is encouraging people to speak it,” she said.

Ellie will join winners of the other language ability categories on a trip to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.

Those of you hoping to go to China and only speak in English have had your plans thwarted!

The planned controversial English language town project, which was to be based in Miyun, a county in the suburbs of Beijing, was vetoed by local government officials who felt that it was discriminatory against the Chinese language and people.

The proposed European-style town was in the process of being developed by a private enterprise, with the main objective of promoting the learning of the English language to internal tourists. Visitors to the town would have only been able to communicate in English.