ViA students – laureates at Chinese language competition

Six of the first year students of Tourism Organization and Management successfully took part in the 8-th Latvian Preliminary Round for the upcoming Chinese Bridge Competition.

Students Ilva Legzdiņa gained the 2-nd place among competitors with the basic level of Chinese knowledge. She performed the modern poem "Say goodbye to Cambridge" written by Chinese famous poet Xu Zhimo in 1936. Students Zane Erkske and Zane Petrovska gained 3-rd place in the competition and Edgars Mikelsons, Liene Briconoka and Kristaps Veide were recognized as participants.

Ilva Legzdiņa tells:"When I started the studies at Vidzeme University College, I was interested to learn a foreign language I never studied before. That is how I started the Chinese language studies a one year ago. Now I hope to work in order to enhance the cooperation with China in my future carrier. I could also spend some part of my life there as I am deeply interested in Chinese language and culture.

During the competition I had to tell about myself, to recite the poem and also to sing it. None of competitors felt easy. I gained strong motivation to continue the language studies as I saw how good the performance of older students was.

I also got a chance to apply the Confucius Institute scholarship from this competition. If I will be able to get to China, I definitely will try to learn the culture and travel around as much as possible. And of course - I will continue Chinese language studies."

The 8-th Latvian Preliminary Round for the upcoming Chinese Bridge - Chinese Proficiency Competition took place at 8^th of May and was sponsored by Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Latvia and co-organized by the University of Latvia, the Confucius Centre of Riga Stradins University, Vidzeme University College and Riga Culture Secondary School.

* In picture ViA students with Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Latvia Cheng Wenjun and Vidzeme University College's Chinese language guest lector Yi Lei.

Liene Locmele
Head of PR Office
liene.locmele@va.lv