Wen Di studies Finnish and tourism in English

First things first: the months

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By Riitta Vainio
     
      A group of foreign students is sitting in a lecture room on the second floor of the Kerava Library, listing the names of the months in Finnish. Tammikuu, Helmikuu, Maaliskuu...
      All of them can speak English, but none can speak fluent Finnish.
      The little black-haired Wen Di and the tall redhead Viorica Bucur are sitting in the first row. Viorica is the best Finnish speaker in the group and can give pronunciation instructions to her neighbour as well.
      While the others imitate even teacher Helena Govenius’s soft ”s”, Bucur says the letter more sharply, just like Finns.
      In addition to being a fast learner, Bucur has a Finnish boyfriend, and ”audiosexual” language teaching guarantees effective results.
     
Chinese Wen Di regrets her poor command of Finnish.
      Apart from these lessons she gets very little practice, just occasionally wishing ’good morning’ or ’goodnight’ to the other residents in a student dormitory in Vantaa.
      Wen Di is 20 years of age and has come to Finland in order to study tourism.
      She is the only Chinese student in the first 12-student group for foreigners studying tourism at the Laurea Polytechnic in Vantaa. Seven of them come from Nepal, and a few from Africa, while Viorica Bucur is Romanian.
     
The purpose is to mould the group in order that all students could find a job in the Finnish tourist industry and would possibly cooperate between their own native countries and Finland.
      Wen Di is a lucky girl - for a Chinese - and the only child of her family. ”You know the Chinese one-child policy”, she notes.
      Unlike Wen Di, many girls are not offered a shot at life, as Chinese families have a tradition of son preference. Moreover, Wen Di was given an opportunity to study English in the upper secondary school back home.
     
Wen Di’s mother is a bank employee, while her father is an entrepreneur. The family lives in the giant city of Wuhan in the province of Hubei, in Central China.
      The family members miss each other. The father and the mother are somewhat concerned about their daughter who is studying on the other side of the globe. Fortunately the connections work, and the family is able to discuss face-to-face via webcams on the Internet.
     
Wen Dei dreams that she could study and stay in Finland maybe for some five years.
      During that time she would learn how to speak Finnish and graduate from the Polytechnic.
      ”Maybe then I will return home. I could set up a tourist business in my home city - but this is still just a dream”, Wen Di concludes.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 27.11.2008
     
     
Note: This is the first article in a Helsingin Sanomat series that follows Wen Di's acclimatisation to life in Finland and the progress of her studies at Laurea. We may return to the subject later.


Links:
  Laurea Polytechnic, Degree Programme in Tourism

RIITTA VAINIO / Helsingin Sanomat
riitta.vainio@hs.fi