Do you know how many languages are there in the world? 5,651 languages. Of these languages, more than 1,400 languages have not yet been recognized as independent languages.

The 10 most popular languages in the world are Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, German and Japanese. Chinese is the most populous language in the world, and English is the world’s most widely spoken language.

I am very grateful that my mother tongue is Chinese. And my hometown happens to be a city where Mandarin is spoken. However, you may not be able to imagine in my early childhood I never learned Chinese Pinyin. When I was in elementary school I first got into the language of English. It laid the cornerstone for my future English study. Since then, English has been my second language and accompanied me all the time.

If you ask me if I have a language talent, I dare not say that I have. But I will definitely be a person who loves the language very much. When I was in college I chose to learn Business English, but unfortunately I didn't cherish my three years of study. In my junior year, I also took a nine-week IELTS course offered by the school. After the internship, I accidentally chose to become an English teacher. In a winter, I was trained for more than a month. During the period, I experienced practice, study, teaching and assessment. But years later my career planning let me hand out the first letter of resignation in my life.

Then I was successfully admitted to a French company to solve problems of Amazon's sellers. The system was in English and the content was complicated, while I had zero computer skills. So I had encountered many difficulties. Its work shifts made me eventually give up this well-paid job.

The unexpected encounter with Beijing Foreign Studies University has given me new ideas. Beijing Foreign Studies University has been my dream place for many years. Quietly tell you that my career plan has never changed, which is to work in a foreign company as a good translator. Studying abroad has also become my new goal.

Persistence in any language learning is indispensable. Many people think that in language learning talent and the environment is crucial, but they ignore the practice in words and speaking is more important. The experience at the university made me suddenly realize that if I didn’t move forward, I would be left behind.

Language learning has opened up a new world for me as an important means of communication. I believe that many students who come to Beijing Foreign Studies University have a bottleneck in their work and English is one of the obstacles. One of the reasons why I came to Beijing Foreign Studies University at that time was to improve my English proficiency. Not only was my career changed, but the development of the learning environment also allowed me to be much clearer about my future career.

I believe that many years later I will pride myself on my decision. The footsteps of pursuing dreams should never stop.

北外校本部学习中心 英语专业
郭晴