Living with a Chinese family and doing an internship in Beijing: My experience

Me, Liu (behind me) and some friends of the family

Today we publish an article written by Caterina Saccani, who at the moment is living with a Chinese family in Beijing while she studies Chinese and works as an intern at a language school, LTL Mandarin School.

How I wound up in China

I studied in Germany and graduated in March as an interpreter and translator. I didn’t specialize in Chinese, I always studied it as a third foreign language. Already during my studies everyone encouraged me to work on my Chinese, because it is the language of the future, the Chinese will conquer the world, there will always be a growing need for more people who speak Chinese etc. To tell the truth I don’t know if the Chinese will actually help me to conquer the world, but I study it because I like it, and the culture fascinates me.

After graduating I decided to spend a few months in China. I had already been to Kunming in the summer of 2013 for an intensive Chinese course in a private school, but two months seemed too short and I wanted a different experience that was more than just studying. So I began looking around for an opportunity as an intern.

With all due respect for agencies that offer internships in China where it is the intern that has to pay thousands of Euro to work, I wanted something different, to try and find on my own the internship that was best suited to me. On the German chamber of commerce site I came across an internship offer with a language school, unpaid, but at least it was free.

The school was looking for a native-speaking intern to translate and optimize their site in Italian and handle their Italian contacts. In exchange they offered a four weeks intensive Chinese course. Since translating in the marketing field is one of the sectors that I would like to specialize in and since I wanted to spend a few months in China studying the language without spending too much, I immediately applied.

The procedure was the usual: motivation letter and CV, exchanging mail, interview via Skype. Once I got the internship I started working on the problem of where I would live for four months in Beijing. Since I didn’t have any contacts I turned to the school, which arranged for apartments shared by students and organized, for those who wished, the so-called “full immersion” program: placement with a family that speaks only Chinese, with meals and lodging included. An excellent way to learn the language better, discover the culture and understand the Chinese mentality. When the school offered me the full immersion experience I said yes without a second thought.

The welcome dinner

Living with a Chinese family: My concerns

I accepted the offer, then, thinking it over, I thought it was a bit crazy. As a teenager I had already participated in scholastic exchanges and summer camps in England, Germany and the USA.
Source: http://www.saporedicina.com/english/living-with-a-chinese-family-and-doing-an-internship-in-beijing/