A flair for foreign languages

Beijing schoolgirl uses her skills to benefit the Ningbo Case Pavilion, Yu Ran reports.

As one of the ambassadors of Ningbo Case Pavilion, 16-year-old Zhou Youxi is well known for her incredible gift of speaking six foreign languages fluently.

Too busy to apply to be an Expo volunteer, Zhou, a recent middle school graduate in Beijing, submitted an online application to be an ambassador at the Ningbo Case Pavilion.

The Ningbo Case Pavilion highlights Tengtou Village, in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, and is the only rural pavilion in the Urban Best Practices Area at the Expo. It is an example of urbanized villages in China as it seeks a balance between tourism development and environmental protection.

Zhou was selected as one of 10 finalists from 3,000 applicants from all over the world. After the final interview with other competitors, Zhou showed off her excellent abilities hoping her knack for languages and service work would set her apart and help her earn an ambassador position.

When Zhou was still in primary school she began volunteering for charity organizations and showing her talent for language learning. With a basic knowledge of English, Chinese sign language was the first form of communication that Zhou wanted to learn.

"I felt sorry for children who can't hear and talk to each other, so I volunteered to be an English teacher at a school for the hearing impaired next to my home. I learned sign language and was able to communicate with the students within two weeks," she said.

Zhou taught herself six other foreign languages: Korean, Japanese, Mongolian, Spanish, French and Portuguese, in her free time.

"Learning foreign languages is my hobby. I don't have to spend too much time on it, but I do get up an hour earlier and go to bed one hour later than my classmates," Zhou said. "The teen years are the best period to learn languages most effectively."

Adding to her qualifications, she was an English interpreter during the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and earned the highest level of the oral interpretation certificate from the International English Education Research Association two years ago.

Now in Beijing, Zhou will come to Shanghai in August.

"The current plan is that I will go to the Ningbo Case Pavilion in August for a series of promotional events about Tengtou Village," she said.

Although she is far away from Shanghai, she has made contributions as an ambassador.

"Me and the other four ambassadors set up a website for Tengtou Village. We gather and upload images and articles to share our experiences in Tengtou online. Hopefully more tourists will visit the Tengtou Village Case Pavilion and Tengtou Village," said Zhou.

"I'm so lucky that my parents support me with learning foreign languages. We've traveled from my hometown in Zhejiang province to Yanbian, Jilin province to learn Korean and to Mongolia to learn Mongolian," Zhou said.

Zhou has received an offer to continue high school at the United World College in Costa Rica.

"Spanish is my favorite language, other than English. I hope that I can represent China as I develop my independence, confidence and creativity," said the young girl who aspires to be a diplomat.