Meet Wu Min!
My name is Wu Min and my English name is Maggie. I come from China. I was born and brought up in Chengde and work in Tangshan, both of which are located in Hebei province, the northern part of China. The former is famous for its beautiful natural scenery and the latter known as the ceramic capital of north China.
I work in a university in Tangshan, the North China University of Science and Technology. Due to the good relationship and good cooperation between the University of Pécs and my university, the Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM CI) at the University of Pécs is co-established by the two universities, with the help of the two countries, Hungary and China. Therefore I have the chance to work here for the TCM CI at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Pécs. I organize Chinese cultural activities and I teach Chinese language.
Pécs is such a beautiful city, with fascinating culture and history. It was the cultural capital of Europe in 2010. I find it quiet, peaceful and calm. The people here are very nice. I like this town and its citizens.
I began to study the Hungarian language in June, with the purposes of knowing more about Hungary, being able to communicate well with the Hungarian people, and making it helpful in my own cultural activities and teaching. The exchange of different cultures and ideas could be done more smoothly only this way.
Language reveals the cultures and the ways of thinking. Similarly, the Chinese language is one way to know the Chinese culture. It is said that Hungarian and Chinese are among the most difficult languages in the world. But they are not impossible to study.
Some sound segments are similar (not the same but similar) in Hungarian, English and Chinese: for example, ‘a’ in Hungarian ‘város’, in English ‘fast’, and in Chinese ‘mā’. Some sounds are different, even doesn’t exist in other languages, for example, the Hungarian ‘ö’ and ‘ő’ could not be found in English or in Chinese. The four tones of Chinese are not present in Hungarian or English. That’s how the different languages attract people’s attentions.
Another way to know one culture is to read its literature and listen to its music. There are many literary works in Chinese, among which four classics are always mentioned: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Story of the Water Margin, Pilgrimage to the West and A Dream on the Red Mansion. And the song “Ode to Jasmine” is known to all in China.
Éva Harka, UnivPécs
Photo: Szabolcs Csortos