Language And Culture Of China Highlighted At Upcoming Library Program

By Nancy K. Crevier

Christopher Alesevich is excited about the upcoming program, “Learning Chinese and Stories from China” that he will lead Tuesday evening, October 5, at the C.H. Booth Library, from 7 to 8:30. The presentation will be a hands-on event for participants ages 6 years through adult, as Mr Alesevich, with the assistance of a live online instructor in Beijing, China, teaches the group a friendly conversation in Chinese, as well as how to write Chinese characters.

“I also will share lots of pictures and discuss what it’s like to live in a rapidly changing modern China,” said Mr Alesevich.

A native of Shelton, Mr Alesevich earned his BA in international studies form the University of Southern California in 2004. “I needed a language for my major, and Chinese jumped out at me. I was looking to expose myself to new opportunities, and Chinese turned out to be all that I thought it would be,” he said.

His interest in Chinese led him to study at Beijing University, and in Shanghai, and he was also offered opportunities to work in the two cities. In Beijing, Mr Alesevich worked for a state-owned Chinese company, in a 100 percent Chinese-speaking environment. “I had only a few semesters of speaking [Chinese] under my belt when I arrived in Beijing,” recalled Mr Alesevich. “It was very frustrating.” But through trial and error, he found himself within just a few months able to carry on a conversation, and by the end of a year, he was able to use the language competently.

His original plans were for an 18-month stay, but with opportunities to travel in the large and diverse country, and to involve himself more fully in the culture, he extended that stay to three years, returning to the United States in 2009.

“Chinese makes sense once you study it, and is not as complicated as people tend to think,” said Mr Alesevich. “It’s a very rich language, with a lot of history and culture within it. The challenge to learning it, is in having an open mind, and to be unencumbered by preconceived notions,” he added. While the language appears complicated, it is essentially a simple language, Mr Alesevich said, with only 400 syllables and four tones. “Each word is just one syllable, and once you master the tones, you are on your way,” he said.

There is a rising interest among Americans in the Chinese language and culture, said Mr Alesevich, and he hopes to accommodate it through his programs and through his venture Wudaokou Borderless Learning, a 100 percent web-based platform for learning Chinese with self-study multimedia lessons, and one-on-one classes with native tutors in Beijing, China. Wudaokou Borderless Learning has been up and running for just two months. Incorporating online tutor-led virtual tours of places like the Great Wall and Forbidden City into the lessons creates a sophisticated learning experience for students, said Mr Alesevich.

“Mandarin Chinese education is becoming increasingly in demand in Connecticut and elsewhere, especially since China is poised to become one of the largest economies in the world,” he said.  The programs at Wudaokou Borderless Learning are being developed for schools at all levels, as well as for individuals.

It is more than the language that is intriguing about China, said Mr Alesevich, and he will share with library program participants the humorous stories, and his successes and failures from his three years of living in China. “America is very removed from China, but when you get there and things are up close, you begin to understand China. They are not the ‘automatons’ that most Americans perceive from the news or from the Olympic programming. They are really free thinkers. Their culture emphasizes different strengths than we might here, and the rules are a little different, is all. You have to be careful not to generalize,” he discovered.

The cultural similarities and differences will be part of what he shares on October 5, he said, as will his adventures traveling throughout the country, from the Tibetan plateau to the site of the ancient Silk Road in the desert.

“I think this is an important time to be sharing this,” said Mr Alesevich. “As China is growing, it is only going to become more important, globally.”

 To register for the free program, contact the C.H. Booth Library at 203-426-4533.