On May 28, 2018, two Batch 31 (K31) students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages - Huynh Le Thanh Huyen and Nguyen Le Tram An - entered the final round of the 17th Chinese Bridge 2018 Contest, in the area of Ho Chi Minh City.
The Chinese Bridge is an annual Chinese competition for university students around the world. This China-organized competition requires participants to pass three rounds in Chinese language: Chinese linguistics and culture, Presentation and talents. The two best contestants will represent the region to enter the global round in China.
This year's Chinese Bridge contest in Ho Chi Minh City has 18 contestants from 9 teams, representing 8 universities. In spite of their disadvantage of not having Chinese language as a major, Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City (also known as BUH), its Faculty of Foreign Languages sends two students to the contest. This is a great chance for the school's representatives to exchange their love for Chinese language, learn from Chinese-major students from other southern-based tertiary institutions. In addition, this is the first time BUH has ever taken part in this global contest.
With their humble preparation, limited background knowledge on Chinese linguistics and culture, Huyen and Tram tried their best to boast their confidence and expertise. Even though they could not achieve a higher score in the contest, they were able to prove their possible better command of Chinese language in comparison with some Chinese-major students. This is just an opportunity to challenge themselves in a second foreign language rather than English - their major. They will probably keep these memorable moments from this contest forever. With more thorough preparation, BUH's representatives at the Chinese Bridge contests are expected to be higher achievers in the future.
