□ 文/本刊记者 李静
ILYAS,中文名字伊利亚,是一个有着哈萨克斯坦和俄罗斯血统的混血小伙,初次见到他,就被他身上散发出的青春气息感染,一脸阳光的笑容,非常友好地向我打招呼,“你好,很高兴见到你。”
虽然只有20岁,伊利亚却比很多在重庆的外国人生活得都久,“我17岁就来到中国了,那时高中一毕业我就报考了重庆交通大学的国际经济贸易专业,不过我先去西安交通大学学习了一年中文,汉语考试合格以后才来重庆上大学的。”伊利亚的中文水平令人惊讶,不光能说一口流利的、字正腔圆的中文,还能写汉字。现在,他还能听懂大部分重庆话,有时也会冒出一两句纯正的地方方言。伊利亚告诉我,“别看我现在很能说,其实刚开始学习的时候也像其他外国朋友一样,觉得学中文是一件很头疼的事情。”
伊利亚所在大学的专业课程都是全中文教学的,连教科书也是密密麻麻的汉字。刚念大一的时候,拿到手里的教科书,伊利亚有种想放弃的冲动。说说还好,可是要把那些奇形怪状的汉字记住并写出来真的太难了。“那个时候,真的感觉中文比我的母语——俄语还要难学。”直到有一天,他的一位也在学习中文的意大利朋友给他看了一段影片,里面讲述怎样形象地学习汉字。看完以后,伊利亚深受启发,像获得了灵感,突然开窍了。“原来学汉字是要运用你的想象力的,就像带有提手旁的汉字都是和手有关的,只要掌握了规律,记汉字就方便多了。”伊利亚滔滔不绝地与我分享他学习中文的经验,因为对语言本身有着一种语感和天赋,所以学习中文对他来讲也慢慢成了自然而然,简单轻松的事情,有时连睡觉做梦也会念叨几句中文。
2010年,伊利亚和他家乡的朋友一起来到重庆上大学。刚到重庆,就被这高低起伏的城市吸引住了。“第一次看到重庆时就觉得很震惊,好现代啊。到处都是高楼大厦,和古城西安完全不同,这是一座充满朝气的城市。”伊利亚喜欢重庆的一切,虽然刚来时对重庆方言有点不适应,还常因为难以分辨“四”和“十”的平翘舌发音,以至于出去买东西时闹出很多笑话,伊利亚却对这门地方语言产生了浓厚的兴趣,时不时和自己的重庆朋友对上一段重庆话,让人捧腹。
伊利亚还对重庆饮食情有独钟,虽然刚吃火锅时也会因为水土不服闹肚子,不过一回生二回熟,现在已经完全适应了。“其实我更喜欢吃重庆小面。”伊利亚两眼放光,还用地道的重庆话说“我最喜欢吃豌杂面。”伊利亚告诉我,第一次知道重庆小面是因为有一天走在街上,发现路边挤满了人,排队等着吃这家小铺的面,我很好奇,也去买了一碗来尝,不想就喜欢上了,这也是缘分吧。说到吃,伊利亚掰着手指数着,火锅、小面、烧烤……一副意犹未尽的样子。
伊利亚喜欢中国,更喜欢重庆,“这里的人们很友好,重庆人很耿直,在这里我有家的感觉。”伊利亚在重庆不仅有丰富的学生生活,也参加了很多社会实践,还当起了平面模特,为许多杂志广告拍摄形象照;同时也去一些企业实习,做翻译。“现在我正努力学习法语,如果学好以后,那便是我掌握的中文、英文、俄语、意大利语之后的第五门语言了。”伊利亚一脸自豪。
今年是伊利亚在重庆的第四年,他希望毕业后继续呆在中国,“中国现在发展迅速,有很多机会,我会继续选择在这里工作,无论以后去哪个城市,我一定不会忘记重庆,因为这里是我曾经学习的地方,是我开始接触中国文化的城市,也是我在中国最有意义的回忆和人生经历。”
ILYAS is a mixed-race guy with Kazakhstan and Russia, when meeting him for the first time,you will be infected by his passion with a sunshine smile,he greeted to me very friendly and said,"Hello, nice to meet you. ”
Although he is only 20 years old,ILYAS is longer than many foreigners who are living in Chongqing, "I came to China when I was 17 years old, I enter myself for an examination to Chongqing Jiaotong University whose major is international economic relations and trade as soon as I graduated from high school in my country, but I went to Xi ' an Jiaotong University to study Chinese for a year,after passing the Chinese language examination I came to Chongqing."I was shocked by ILYAS's Chinese not only because he can speak fluently, handwriting in Chinese, but also able to write Chinese characters.Now he can even understand most of Chongqing hua and sometimes couple of pure local dialects would come out from his mouth.ILYAS told me, "when i just started to learn Chinese, in fact, I'm just like other foreign people, thinking learning Chinese is a very troublesome thing."
The courses that ILYAS studies in the university are all professional and written in Chinese even his textbooks are also Chinese characters.Just by reading those books ILYAS had a urge to give up.It is really hard to remember and write Chinese.At that time, I did feel it was more difficult than Russian.Until one day, one of his Italian friend who also studies Chinese showed him a video about how to learn Chinese characters.After watching that, ILYAS was inspired,"You need to use your imagination to learn Chinese characters,for example,Chinese characters with hand are hand-related, as long as you master the rule,studying Chinese characters became a lot more convenient and easier." ILYAS went on to share his learning experience with me.Also because of his sense on the language itself and talent,learning Chinese gradually became a natural, simple thing, sometimes even a few Chinese words will be spoke out while he is sleeping.
In 2010, ILYAS and his friends came to Chongqing to study,as soon as he just arrived in Chongqing,he was attracted by the ups and downs of the city. "When I first time saw Chongqing I was shocked,it's a modern city and different from the ancient city Xi'an, this is a city that's full of vitality. "ILYAS likes everything about Chongqing,although sometimes he has hard time understanding the Chongqing dialect which often makes a lot of jokes as"four" and "ten" tongue pronunciation when buying something , ILYAS still has a keen interest in the local language.
In addition, ILYAS is addicted to Chongqing food although he had stomach problem when eating hotpot,however, he is now fully adapted. "In fact, I prefer to eat Chongqing noodles. "ILYAS said, "I like to eat noodles with beans.One day I was walking down the street and saw a lot of people waiting to eat in front of this shop, I was curious so I bought a bowl of noodles to taste and I started to like it. It is the fate!When it comes to food, ILYAS started to count, hot pot,noodles,barbecue......
ILYAS loves China,as well as Chongqing, "People here are friendly,Chongqing people is honest and frank,I feel like home here."ILYAS not only has wonderful student life in Chongqing,but also participated in many social practices,he also worked as a model for a number of magazines image shooting advertising photos;he also does internships, doing translations."Now I'm trying to learn French, if I succeeded,that means it would be my fifth language after Chinese, English, Russian, Italy language."ILYAS looked really proud and confident.
This year is ILYAS's fourth year in Chongqing, he hopes to stay in China after graduated. "China is developing quickly and there are many opportunities,I will continue to work here, wherever I am in China,I can never forget about Chongqing because this is where I studied and learnt local culture, which is also my most significative memory and life experience I had in China."