“汉语桥”世界大学生中文比赛Chinese Bridge——Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students

Yea, I agree actually Xiaohu, she had a heavy accent and her speaking was slightly over done. The other Asian contestents were definately most superior but I am sure skin colour was a part of the judging if not intrisically on the judges part.  

How disappointing!

Not only was I rooting for Nick, but the other people I was rooting for didn't win!

I'm really not sure why the African American girl 欧莉莲 won!!!  I honestly don't get it...

I looked up 汉语桥 on the Hunan TV Website and they say that 汉语桥 is a "Chinese proficiency competition for College Students." 

On the basis of "Chinese proficiency" she NEVER should have won the competition!  Is this some kind of Chinese affirmative action campaign?  Is Hunan TV trying to ingratiate themselves to the West?

Not only was Nick's spoken Chinese much better than 欧莉莲, but there were at least 6 other contestants who were clearly better than the winner!

Unbelievable..even if I am chinese, but i think he better than me.

Chela:

They just started broadcasting 汉语桥 on Hunan TV, (at least to where I can receive it on my 麒麟 Chinese Cable TV service) and I have to say, your Son did GREAT!

His monologue was very fluent and well delivered, his personality really shines through!  The great majority of his tones were right on the money.  (contrasted with the majority of the American contestants who couldn't get much more than 1 or 2 tones right in their whole speech, remember tones are very difficult for American's to grasp) Nick seems very honest and likeable, and I've noticed they keep frequently cutting to his reaction shots!

He was selected as one of the contestants given a  普及 (a kind of pass, definately enabling him to pass through their group of 5 without going into the jeopardy group and having to be given a special pass later by the judges) they do that in Supergirl as well, must be a Hunan TV thing...

Anyway, the next episode will broadcast tonight...I can't wait to see how Nick does! 

Xiao Hu

Here are the links for you.

The first part is a debate. The topic is  interest and diligency, which is important for learning Chinese!

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p192_ODE3OTI=.html

 The second part is play. They played four classical plays.

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p193_ODE3OTM=.html宝莲灯

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p194_ODE3OTQ=.html真假美猴王（Chela, you can see Nick here!^_^）

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p196_ODE3OTY=.html上海滩（The winner's show, she sang very well. And I really like the guy whose name is李慕白，his performance is very good. Especially the falling , very cool!^_^He won the most popular contestant. Congratulations!）

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p198_ODE3OTg=.html霸王别姬

The third part is awarding.

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p201_ODE4MDE=.html

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p203_ODE4MDM=.html

Yo~~hoo~~~!

The 7th Chinese Bridge had came to end completely just now(half an hour ago)! The winner is欧莉莲who comes from the Columbia University. Congratulations！

第七届汉语桥中文比赛圆满落幕了，来着美国哥伦比亚大学的欧莉莲获得了总冠军，祝贺她！

The final is very very excited and wonderful. They played four classical chinese works tonight.  《宝莲灯》《真假美猴王》《上海滩》《霸王别姬》I will try to find the link for you guys, I guess there will be some online links tomorrow. Update needs time.^_^

All the top 24 contestants won the scholarship for six months learning in China. And our country will pay the come and go expenses. Congratulations!

oh, chela, I just saw a news about tonight's final, it is said that Nick will show up on tonight's show to help his friend.

Here is the link for you, you will see one of his shoots.

http://ent.hunantv.com/e/h/20080801/28362_2.html

Thank you chela!

The winner of the 7th Chinese Bridge——Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students will come out tonight. I am going to watch the live broadcast final at 7：35pm here tonight. Go! Wish them good luck!

今晚7：35分湖南卫视将现场直播第七届汉语桥世界大学生中文比赛的总决赛，加油，祝他们好运！

Xiao Hu,

Thank you so much for your translation and you are right--it is better to get a feel for the entire article. I am very grateful for the kindness of strangers. One definition of stranger that I learned was that a stranger is a friend we haven't met yet.

Elliot--thank you for your post.

Cassie--I am wishing you good luck in your work.

Gratefully,

Chela

Chela2401:

I hope a somewhat complete (although not totally error-free) translation from one XiaoHu will do:

Everyone who sees Nick, "Mei Wen Yu" (梅文宇) says that it's like the wizard "Harry Potter" has flown in (from the Chinese Bridge) to China.  It just so happens that the 20 year old "Mei Wen Yu" knows how to do alot of things, truly like a wizard. He likes to study languages, he understands Chinese, Korean, Japanese and he can speak a little Arabic.  He likes music, he can play the Piano and the Saxophone.  He can sing Wang Fei's "Wo Yuan Yi" 《我愿意》, (I Am Willing) and Jay Chou's "Ting Ma Ma De Hua", 《听妈妈的话》, (Listen To Your Mother)。He says his Chinese name is a little weird but the  character 文 "Wen" originates from the Chinese word 文化 "Wen Hua" meaning "Culture", and the 宇 "Yu" from the Chinese word 宇宙 (Yu Zhou) meaning "Universe".  It means that he wants to study everything in the entire Universe that has to do with Language and Culture.

Wherever he goes, there are people who follow him and want to get their pictures taken with him, thinking he is the genuine Harry Potter.  Mei Wen Yu always takes it in stride with a smile and a laugh.  In order to set himself apart from the other competitors, Mei Wen Yu brought over a special black robe from far away to wear during the competition.  During the competition he will put on the black robe, looking very much like he can really perform magic, and apparently Mei Wen Yu's Chinese has developed so fast it's like magic.

看到梅文宇的人都说，小魔法师哈里波特从汉语桥飞到中国来了。今年正好20岁的梅文宇会的东西很多，真的像个魔法师似的。他喜欢学习语言，懂中文、韩文、日文，能说一点点阿拉伯语。喜欢音乐，能弹钢琴，吹萨克斯。能唱王菲的《我愿意》以及周杰伦的《听妈妈的话》。他说自己的中文名字有点怪，但是有由来的：文：文化，语言。宇：宇宙。意思是想学习宇宙中所有的语言文化。

   每到一处，就有人拉着他要跟他合影，以为他是真正的哈里波特。梅文宇总是笑嘻嘻接受。为了能在比赛中突出自己的特色，梅文宇还特地从美国万里迢迢带来了一件魔法师的黑色长袍，一有比赛他就穿上这件长袍，袍子似乎还真的有魔法，梅文宇的汉语好像进步神速。

I hope this allows you to better get a feeling for what the article was saying, it's always nice when you're able to soak in every word instead of just picking out a word or two here and there just to grasp the basic meaning.

Let me know if this was any help!

Xiao Hu

hi elliot,

thank you. I will work for my college this August.

my near plan is to work first and then keep learning.  Never too old to learn.^_^

I seldom online in the past days since i had backed to my hometown for short holiday.

I watched the new round match two days ago and it was very very wonderful, those contestants learned chinese dance, cooking, crosstalk,magic,kungfu and Beijing opera in one week and show themselves. Their shows were really impressive. I still can not find the online links for you right now. sigh.  But i will try and keep you post.

Hi Chela, congratulations on your son Nick getting to the top 24 in the competition - you must be so proud. I wish Nick the best and hope he can make it through to the next round! I've been reading this post today and it's very exciting - I'm inspired to study harder!

Hi Cassie, congratulations on your graduation and thanks for this post - it has made compelling reading! What are you planning now you have graduated?

Hi chela,

I had sent them to you. Go and check your gemail. Make sure you had  got them.

Cassie, you are sweet and kind and generous with your time and with your support. If you want to send the cell phone video to me, I'd love it--I can share it with my friends [most of whom are technophobes] who have been a family of choice for us for the last 20 years. We are very fortunate, we have a loving extended family, a loving family of choice, and now a very supportive and encouraging online family. If you email me, we can talk about cell numbers. namaste.chela@gmail.com Thanks again, you are a treat that I am enjoying getting to know.

Dear auntie68, thank you for you translation, I learned from your excellent translation.

Chela, yes, you are right, no matter what happens with the competition, we don't care about the result, what we care is what we can learn from this terrific experience. You know, when I posted this thread, I did not see that I will meet such a good mother caring about his son like you and such a smart boy like Nick.  You know, I understand you, you may worry about your son over there, because he came to China and he took part in a very competitive and exciting competition. To be honest, I used a very silly method that I recorded Nick's parts by my cellphone, believe me, they are not very clear. So that's why I think I used a very stupid method. But I think you will be sad if the online video never update, so I keep the short video recorded by myself in case that I can send it to you if there are no online links. ^_^ Lol, I can cancel the one since it is not necessary now.

Auntie68, thanks you so much for your translation--I am vey touched. You are making the "bridge" stronger and wider. My heart is full with all the encouragement, information and support from you, Cassie, Uncle changye, Bill and rjberki . It truly feels as if we are creating a wonderful new family with aunts, uncles, and cousins. No matter what happens with the competition, this has been a terrific experience for both my son and for me.

haha, so ,uncle changye, you finaly know my original purpose for asking you and our dearest auntie68 to translate the news. And actually, I know our auntie can do that, she is really good at chinese reading!^_^

Hi auntie68,

No problem. Actually, the universe (宇宙, yu3 zhou4) is, in a sense, really huge and monstrous, and everyone here is broad-minded. By the way, your typo just reminds me of the title of a classic Japanese novel 芋粥 (yu4 zhou1, sweet potato porridge) written by 芥川龍之介. Joking aside, I read your translation three times, which is very educational for learners of English like cassie and me. Thank you!

Yikes, sorry, I just discovered a monstrous typo in my translation; I got Nick's Chinese name wrong:

Everybody who sees Nick declares that Harry Potter has flown into China over the "Chinese Bridge”. Nick, who is just 20 years old this year, knows so many things things that he really does resemble a wizard.

He likes studying languages; knows Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and can even speak some Arabic. He loves music, and plays the piano and the saxophone. He can sing “我愿意” by 王菲，as well as 周杰伦’s “听妈妈的话”. According to him, his Chinese name, 文宇, may be a little unusual, but there is a reason behind his choice of characters:  The first character,文 , for its associations with culture and languages. The character 宇, because it is one-half of the Chinese word for “universe” (宇宙), and represents his desire to study all the languages and cultures in our universe.

Everywhere he goes, people stop him and ask to have their photograph taken with him, believing him to be the actor who plays Harry Potter. And Nick always obliges cheerfully. In order to help himself to stand out a little in the field of contestants, he even brought a wizard’s long black magic cloak with him to the contest, all the way from America. When he is competing, he wears the cloak, which could very well have real magical powers, considering the seemingly magical progress which Nick has made in Chinese."

Hi cassie,

You are not only a native Chinese, but also an English major! Don't "outsource" the task of translation to a lazy foreign guy.....hehe!

P/S. Thanks a lot, auntie!

chela, here is my somewhat loose translation; I hope that somebody will help me to polish it and correct any errors I may have made:

Everybody who sees Nick declares that Harry Potter has flown into China over the "Chinese Bridge”. Nick, who is just 20 years old this year, knows so many things things that he really does resemble a wizard.

He likes studying languages; knows Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and can even speak some Arabic. He loves music, and plays the piano and the saxophone. He can sing “我愿意” by 王菲，as well as 周杰伦’s “听妈妈的话”. According to him, his Chinese name, 文芋, may be a little unusual, but there is a reason behind his choice of characters:  The first character, 文 , for its associations with culture and languages. The character 芋, because it is one-half of the Chinese word for “universe” (宇宙), and represents his desire to study all the languages and cultures in our universe.

Everywhere he goes, people stop him and ask to have their photograph taken with him, believing him to be the actor who plays Harry Potter. And Nick always obliges cheerfully. In order to help himself to stand out a little in the field of contestants, he even brought a wizard’s long black magic cloak with him to the contest, all the way from America. When he is competing, he wears the cloak, which could very well have real magical powers, considering the seemingly magical progress which Nick has made in Chinese."

If Uncle Changye or Auntie68 are willing to translate for me, I would be very grateful. Also, thanks for the link to the news--both the picture you posted and the one on the news are great shots. Thank you

Maybe I gave our uncle changye and auntie68 a hard task!哈哈^_^

Cassie,

I will. I hope to know soon what you wrote in Chinese about some news.

oh, chela, you are there right now！ You are welcome, enjoy the competition!

And here is a piece of news about Nick. All in Chinese, maybe our uncle changye or auntie68 can try to translate it for you!^_^

看到梅文宇的人都说，小魔法师哈里波特从汉语桥飞到中国来了。今年正好20岁的梅文宇会的东西很多，真的像个魔法师似的。他喜欢学习语言，懂中文、韩文、日文，能说一点点阿拉伯语。喜欢音乐，能弹钢琴，吹萨克斯。能唱王菲的《我愿意》以及周杰伦的《听妈妈的话》。他说自己的中文名字有点怪，但是有由来的：文：文化，语言。宇：宇宙。意思是想学习宇宙中所有的语言文化。

   每到一处，就有人拉着他要跟他合影，以为他是真正的哈里波特。梅文宇总是笑嘻嘻接受。为了能在比赛中突出自己的特色，梅文宇还特地从美国万里迢迢带来了一件魔法师的黑色长袍，一有比赛他就穿上这件长袍，袍子似乎还真的有魔法，梅文宇的汉语好像进步神速。

here is the link for this news.

http://zixun.hunantv.com/huodong/hyq/xwbd/200807/t20080717_33275.html

Hello Cassie,

Thank you very much, I am going to switch over now to watch last night's match.

oh, here is a picture of Nick in last night's competition.  Very nice^_^

Hi Chela, you are welcome!

Here are the links for last night's live broadcasted competition!

In last night's competition, those 24contestants divided into 4 groups and each group has different tasks. The first group acted as TV hosts, the second group acted as teacher, the third group acted as museum expositor and the fourth group acted as sale man.（Nick was in the last group.）

总决赛第一场A

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p158_ODAyMjg=.html

总决赛第一场B

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p160_ODAyMzA=.html

总决赛第一场C

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p161_ODAyMzE=.html

总决赛第一场D

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p162_ODAyMzI=.html

总决赛第一场E（Chela, you can watch Nick's performance in this part.）

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p163_ODAyMzM=.html

总决赛第一场F

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p164_ODAyMzQ=.html

Dear Cassie,

Thanks for keeping me posted--it is a very exciting competition--Also. I appreciate knowing the process by which the contestants are chosen for the next round. I will check in again soon.

changye and auntie68,

你们说的很对，汉语作为连通中国和世界的桥梁发挥着重要作用。因为人和人之间需要沟通，国家和国家之间需要沟通，所以我们的语言，特别是外语，作为人与人之间一种交流的工具，作为国与国之间沟通的桥梁，是非常重要的！auntie说的对，我们能够在这里畅快的交流，得感谢chinesepod，感谢中文播客给我们提供了这么好的交流的平台（community）.中文播客是我们之间的桥梁。Thank you chinesepod for building this "bridge" for us.

I am going to give you the links that for the 4th match. The top 24 contestants came out from this match. Actually, the top 18 came out directly and other 6 contestants were choosed later. (they were choosed according to another match that did one day later.)Nick was one of the other 6 contestants. He made the final and became the top 24.  I don't know if I explained these very clear and well to you . I hope you can understand.

Here are the links. （You will find that the most contestants were very very very nervous because they had only one day to prepare this match.）

汉语桥复赛第四场A

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p49_ODAxMTk=.html

汉语桥复赛第四场B

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p48_ODAxMTg=.html

汉语桥复赛第四场C(Chela, you can watch Nick's show in this part.He was nervous too!)

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p50_ODAxMjA=.html

汉语桥复赛第四场D

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p52_ODAxMjI=.html

汉语桥复赛第四场E
http://vblog.hunantv.com/p51_ODAxMjE=.html

I just finished watching the live broadcasted first match about the finals an hour before. It was very great and competitive. Everyone did do the best. But only 10 entered the next round dericetly. (Oh, I forgot to say that there are 24 contestants in all entered this final competition.)  I think may be I can find some online videos for you guy to watch tonight's competition tomorrow, I think they will update soon!

Chela, Nick did very good tonight, but unfortunately, he did not get the chance to enter the next round derectely. However, it's said that the rest 14 contestants still have chance to fight for the 2 quota of people to enter the next round.  Wish Nick good luck!  And Chela, don't worry, I will keep you post.

Cassie--I just watched my son in action--this was my first time to see his speech! Thank you, thank you. I am glad his voice is back. He looks so happy.

Changye and Auntie68--your kindness touched me. I, too, am very gratified to see bridges being built and this could not have been possible without the generosity of spirit shared by Cassie and all of you who have extended your good will. We have many countries and cultures but only one earth. I have always believed that we are all connected and to see these youngsters work so hard and reach out to learn from others fills my heart. "Jai you" to all. I hope I got that right:)

Dearest cassie and chela, I've been (quietly) following this thread very closely. Several times, my heart felt very full -- in the best possible way -- with emotion just thinking about the bridges being built by people like chela, and Nick and cassie (the future belongs to you!), between very diverse cultures.

This would not be possible without the kind of community which CPOD has done such a magnificent job of nurturing. Thanks CPOD!

I'm rooting for Nick, all the way, even though I can't seem to play the videos on my Mac!

Hi chela2401,

I've just enjoyed watching and listening to the super perfomance by 'Harry Potter'. I believe that you are very proud of your bright and charming son. I've very happy to hear that he can speak Chinese, Korean and my mother tongue, Japanese. Nick is just great!

Hi cassie,

This is an ideal thread for foreign learners of Mandarin. Good job! The word '汉语桥' reminds me of the title of a Chinese textbook I saw before at a bookstore here in China. It was 桥梁 (qiao2 liang2, a bridge). 外语能力在国际社会中起重要的桥梁作用！

Here are the links for the competition!

汉语桥复赛第三场A

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p47_ODAxMTc=.html

汉语桥复赛第三场B

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p43_ODAxMTM=.html

汉语桥复赛第三场C （Chela, you can find Nick's show in this part.）

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p44_ODAxMTQ=.html

汉语桥复赛第三场D

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p45_ODAxMTU=.html

汉语桥复赛第三场E

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p46_ODAxMTY=.html

Here are the links for the competition!

汉语桥复赛第二场A

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p38_ODAxMDg=.html

汉语桥复赛第二场B

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p39_ODAxMDk=.html

汉语桥复赛第二场C

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p42_ODAxMTI=.html

汉语桥复赛第二场D

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p40_ODAxMTA=.html

汉语桥复赛第二场E

http://vblog.hunantv.com/p41_ODAxMTE=.html

Chela,

You are welcome!

Cassie--thanks--you made my heart happy for passing that on--Nick is a good son and makes me proud for him and of him.

Hi rjberki ,

Thanks for your kind words. I still find it amazing how we can now communicate almost instantaneously with people from around the world and find those who share common interests. Regarding memory--I too wish I had better memory--I'd love to have my ability to remember any and all things like I did when I was my son's age. I also want to support anyone who is stretching their minds--and take comfort--Nick says that it is almost as hard to learn a second language as it does the first, but each additional lanquage is acquired faster and faster as you add them to your repertoire, almost exponentially. I believe him because I haave seen him in action. 

To Bill--you are absolutely right--In order to progress we must commit to working on acquiring a skill at least 30-60 minutes a day  no matter what [again, my son's opinion].

Good luck to all of you in your efforts. I am working on keeping my commitment to write 30 to 60 minutes a day to see if I can regain my passion in that arena.

chela,

Nick is very tall and cute, you know, when the host introduced No.25 contestant 梅文宇, the audience gave him much more cheer than others, I think chinese people like him!^_^

Chela ,

I am going to tell you another impressive part that Nick gave to us.(the judge, the audience, my mom and I) You will feel like you are a very happy mother if you know this.

The question for  Nick's group is "which chinese character is your favorite and why?"

Before I tell you Nick's answer, I think I should explain some chinese words for you because you said you are a very beginner.

教育jiao4yu4, which means "education" in English. 教jiao, which means "to teach" in English.

Nick said "教"is his favorite chinese character, he learned that this word "教"can be separated into two parts, one is "孝" that means "filial piety". He said he like this word because it teaches him that children should know how to love their parents and give filial piety to their parents. Very good answer , isn't it?   He is a very good and smart boy, Chela, you are a happy mother since you have a son that can make you feel proud of him.

 Again, I am happy to help! Smile!^_^

oh, rjberki,thank you , thank you so much for correcting the word for me. You know, I never look up this word from the dictionary, I just spell it by listening and I thought I might be right. So a lesson for me, don't be a lazy cassie again! ^_^

Hi Chela, congratulations. Your son is amazing. Like Bill I am a little depressed by my own progress in comparison. This is quite amazing. He must be very gifted in this area and Im sure he works very hard at it. I was always interested in science and math in high school (and beer and girls). I was not drawn to languages at that time and did not do very well in them. I was forced to take french in elementary school and I think I resented it very much. This pushed me away from language study unfortunately. To answer your question I have been all over China and I like everything about it. The culture, the history, the mixture of old and new east and west, the people. I could go on for a long time. Traveling to China changed my world view and I would very much like to be able to speak the language. The act of learning Chinese is also fun. Im sure Nick will do very well given his talents. What I wouldnt give for that gift. I would be happy with just a better memory. Study study and I got it! Next day its gone again :-(. How wonderful that you have found this connection (especially our friend cassie).

Cassie - btw since we are also teaching you english,:-) the common word is "contestant" as opposed to "contester". Small thing, but I thought you would want to know.

Good luck to Nick - Cassie, keep us posted.

RJ

Cassie,

Thanks! Those are terrific pictures--and I feel more connected to my son through you, your words and the links you are providing. I cannot express my gratitude enough. You're a fortunate find for me--the universe has smiled on me.

This Japanese contester is very interesting, he wrote"很紧张",which means "very nervous" on his right arm.

Chela,

I had watched Nick's competition this afternoon, he did very well. He got the highest mark in his group and entered the next round directly. His speech is about Harry Potter and Olympic Games. Oh, his group had went to Xi'an西安 and visited the Terra Catta Warriors兵马俑. His video introduction was recorded in the front of 孔庙Confucian Temple.

Nick said when he was 12years old, one of his teacher said he looks like Harry Potter. From then on, he had many interesting stories about he and Harry Potter.^_^ As far as I am concerned, there is no online link about today's show, but I fond a web link about the news broadcasted that I mentioned before. I will give you the link and you will see your son Nick. (There are two pages!^_^)

http://ent.hunantv.com/e/20080716/22222.html

bill

yes, you are almost close.

one version here goes like

"If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron rod into a needle."

cassielin,

Well I definitely needed the dictionary but I'm guessing the meaning:

As long as the skill is profound, even iron can be honed to a needle.

Please feel free to correct.

Best regards, Bill M.

billm,

there is a chinese saying goes like this只要功夫深铁杵磨成针!

rjberki,

They can communicate in Chinese. If you watched the competition, you will find out that they can understand the judge and answer those questions in Chinese.

cassie,

This is pretty depressing for some of us pluggers who've been studying part-time for years (5 years for me) and are still at the intermediate level....with a long way to go to advanced.

That said, I'll study my 30 minutes to one hour a day, everday, and be happy with the results.

Hi rjberki,

I cannot speak for the guy who has only been studying for 8 months but I know my son, Nick, could--with any of his top 7 or 8 languages including Mandarin--be dropped into a location where only that language is spoken and written, and communicate pretty effectively but I also know that he has dedicated almost all of his time to learning languages, especially Asian languages.I think someday he will be teaching and writing about how to teach and acquire languages. So--you have been to China many times? Where have you been and what draws you there? I hope to visit China soon myself--perhaps to visit with my son if he decides to move there after he graduates from college.

Hi Cassie,

8 months!? there must be something wrong with me. I would expect in 8 years maybe I can speak Chinese, but never 8 months. That is very impressive. I would have to spend 24 hours a day totally driven and immersed.  Are these guys just memorizing or do they really understand?

rjberki

In today's competition, there is  a contester who has only learned Mandarin for about 8 months, 8 months, and he can speaks very well. Very impressive! So that's why I hope maybe you guys can watch the link that about yesterday's competition and get something from them.  It is very informing.

Chela,

I saw Nick on this afternoon's news broadcast, they gave him a task that they wanted him to sale a very normal mirror. He is very smart, his advertising claims are very interesting and funny.  And also, he mentioned he looks like "Harry Potter". I am sorry I can not find any web link so far because some of the TV show or news were just broadcasted on TV. By the way, I knew what is Nick's chinese name this afternoon. His chinese name is 梅文宇mei2wen2yu3. Oh, Chela, don't worry , Nick's voice doesn't sound very bad, I think he will  be better soon. I wish he could show the song his wrote and play the piano.

I am happy that I can help and I will keep you post.

Cassie^_^

I would say Nick is doing very well if he has only been studying Mandarin since 2006. That is a very short time to become so proficient. Two years is a short time in Mandarin years :-). Maybe in 10 years I could do this. Maybe more. Maybe never. Very impressive I think.

Hi Chela,

I can not find any online video untill just now.

Now let me give you the website very quick, and I should get back to TV as soon as possible. Oh, I found that Nick was on today's news broadcast but still not on today's competition show, may be he will show on tomorrow's show. I will keep you post.

Here are the weblink about yesterday's  competition. There are six parts, ABCDEF on July 14th.（7月14日）

http://vblog.hunantv.com/uc/7/156/761468/videos-0.html

Hello Cassie,

Thanks for the update. I really appreciate that you are reaching out across the globe. Can you tell me the site where I can watch the finals? Nick will probably sing if his throat is healed in time and he gets his voice back [he became sick several days ago and had laryngitis] otherwise, I think he will recite a poem.I do not think he was prepared to play a piece on the piano although I know he wrote a song for the competition. I wish I understood what all the competitors were saying, I would love to hear everybody.

With Deep Appreciation,

Chela

今天下午看了“汉语桥”世界大学生中文比赛复赛的第一场，印象非常深刻。来自世界55个不同国家的参赛者各个都争奇斗艳，表现非常的精彩。一些选手表现的很自信，一些选手表现的很紧张。我可以理解他们的感受，站在舞台上，面对着现场和电视机前所有的观众，要用一种外语来表达自己，展现自己是需要十足的勇气和自信的。他们都很棒！

Chela,

I have never studied outside of China. I had an English course in my middle school and hight school time. And I learn English as a major for four years in my college time. I still keep learning by myself although I had graduated on July 4th,2008. I will work for my college this August.

Hi chela,

I just finished watching the first round of the finals. I saw Nick in the auditorium many times, I guess maybe I can see him on tomorrow's competition show.

 Only 35 contesters participated on today's show. Actually there was 7 groups of contesters, each group has 5 contesters. All the contesters from these 7 groups went to 杭州hang2zhou1 before this contest and they visited many places of interest ,such as, the West Lake, Lingyin Temple, Leifeng Pagoda. They prepared a short video to introduce themselves while they were visiting there. In the competition field, they give a public speech, most of them talk about their interesting stories about chinese. After speech, the judge give the grade and then announce the result, sevent of them can enter the next round directly. According to the combination of the result for chinese paper test that they had done earlier, there were 14 contesters got the second chance to fight for and only 9 contesters made it.

Well, I should say that this competition is very competitive and all the contesters are very good ,althought some of them were very nervous. But I should also say that they are very brave to show themselves in Chinese. So, I am looking forward to Nick's speech. I guess maybe he will sing a chinese song because you said music is his passion. Again, I am looking forward to it and I will keep you post.

Hi Cassie,

Nick has been learning many languages, mostly on his own. His favorite is Chinese, he has been studying since the summer of 2006 before he entered college. His major is Linguistics most likely with Chinese and Japanese minors. He first went to Beijing his senior year of high school with his Madrigal Group and last summer he spent 8 weeks at the Princeton-in-Beijing program at Beijing Normal University. He is very dedicated to learning as many languages as possible--Learning languages and performing music are his passions.

I did not hear from him until July 11 even though he arrived on June 29. It was difficult for me to remain patient while waiting to know he arrived in Beijing and then Changsha.:) He loves China and wants to work there after graduation.

I am happy to answer all questions, although I was concerned that I was asking too much. I do not want to be a pest. He texted me today and said he made the finals. So I hope to see him somewhere on line doing his thing.

 So tell me--how long have you been studying English? You said you graduated--do you have future plans to study more or do you have something else in mind. Have you studied outside of China? You write very well, I wish I was more conversant in Chinese--I am just starting. I can say "Hello" and "Thank You". I hope we connect again.

Thank you again for your assistance.

so chela, is your son Nick learning chinese as a major in the university?  Have you got any information from him, by call or email?  Is it the first time for him to come to China? Are you learning chinese with him? Sorry to bother you so many questions, I just feel very happy that we chinesepod users have somehow connected!  Again, I wish your son Nick, our "Harry Potter" good luck!^_^ I will keep you post!

Cassie

Dear chela, thank you very much and I am very happy that those links made you happy!!^_^ I reviewed the whole opening ceremony and I did see your son in every part. You are right, the 2:35 into 8:06 one has the best shoot for your son. He is very cute and looks like “Harry Potter”^_^. Now, I remember your son and I will keep my eyes on his participation/ presentation in the finals. I wish him good luck!

Hello cassielin, thank you again for the links--I watched all of them and saw my son in each part {except for the very short ones} --you made me a happy mother. If you'd like to see him, the best shot of him is at about 2:35 into the 8:06 long video.

Again, thank you.

Dear cassielin, thank you so much for the links and your rapid response--you have a generosity of spirit, I can tell. If you see any of my son's participation, I'd love the info. He really does look like Harry Potter from the book--his name is Nicholas Miller from Georgetown University, His Chinese name is "Something? Plum".

By the way, congratulations on your graduation.

Gratefully yours,

Chela

chela2401

Here is the link for the opening ceremony. there are five parts, A B C D E.

http://so.tudou.com/isearch.do?kw=%BA%BA%D3%EF%C7%C5%BF%AA%C4%BB%CA%BD

The finals will be broadcasted from next Tuesday to Friday on the TV. I am looking forward to it. Recently, the TV only broadcast some intersting behind the scene stories while they were chooseing the most excellent contesters from Five Continents in the past few months.

Here is the link for the all-round information about this competition. But all in Chinese!!

http://news.hunantv.com.cn/huodong/hyq/

Hi, I was wondering if you might be willing to help me. My son, Nick, is participating in the 7th Chinese Bridge——Chinese proficiency Competition. I am trying to find links to watch the opening ceremony and the competitions--if fact his turn is today--if you see him you can recognize him--they call him "Harry Potter" :) Unfortunately, I am not a polyglot like he is and it is limiting my ability to find links. Thank you in advance if anyone can help.

Can you understand this guy's chinese? I think he sings very well. 童话tong2hua4 is a very famous love song in 2005.

Here is the link

http://news.hunantv.com.cn/video/fence/200805/t20080507_31241.html

I've heard of similar competitions.

oh, here is a contester from America, his name is 李慕白and he speaks very fluent chinese, as the representative, he made a speech on last night's live opening ceremony.

And I found a video that he made a short speech, the title is  Go to China 到中国去.