Self-taught Chinese speaker wins regional competition Quinton Quaye, a Western Michigan University senior, won first place May 15 at the Midwest Regional Chinese Speaking Contest at Northwest University in Chicago, Ill.
"I was shocked that I won the contest," said Quaye, who is majoring in graphic design with a minor in Chinese. "I thought I would have placed very low, and I was so nervous at the last minute."
"I was shocked that I won the contest," said Quaye, who is majoring in graphic design with a minor in Chinese. "I thought I would have placed very low, and I was so nervous at the last minute."
The win is a testament to Quaye’s personal desire to study and master a foreign language. He competed against more than 50 contestants, most of whom were students from the University of Chicago and Northwest University, and took first place in the second-year Chinese level. Contestants were graded based on the fluidity of their speech, the quality of their use of the "four tones of Chinese," their special skills in Chinese culture, and their overall presentation. Quaye presented his sketch with the help of some Chinese partners and his Chinese calligraphy skills before a panel of 12 judges. “It is also a testament to the international programs and foreign language education at WMU, said Dr. Xioaojun Wang, WMU professor of Chinese language and head of the program, as well as director of the Confucius Institute at WMU. “Our students have been doing extremely well and we are very proud of them. Quinton has proven that when where there is a will, there is away, and practice makes perfect.”
With a smile, Quaye shared a memory that it was a martial arts movie that sparked his desire to learn Chinese. "What first piqued my interest in Chinese culture was the film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” Quaye said. “I developed a huge crush on one of the movie’s main actors, Zhang Ziyi. I thought she was amazing and so I gave myself a challenge—I would start learning Chinese so one day I would be fluent enough to have a conversation with her."
He decided to purchase a Chinese study book and took it everywhere he went, studying on the go whenever he had a free minute. Quaye admits that after graduating from high school he came to the realization that meeting Zhang Ziyi would never happen. "But I didn’t stop learning the language because by that time it was my second lifestyle," he said. 
During the first meeting of his Chinese class at WMU, he was confident in his skills but still unsure of his abilities to demonstrate them in public. When the teacher asked a question, Quaye raised his hand and answered it. When the professor asked another, he raised his hand again, but the teacher didn’t call on him to answer, skipping him, to choose another student instead. "I thought to myself, wow, I must really have a bad way with Chinese and have no clue what is going on," he said. When the class was over, the professor approached him and asked where he learned the language, believing Quaye’s skills were the best she had heard from an American-born student. She wondered if he was from China. Quaye said that experience encouraged him to pursue fluency in Chinese.
In the summer of 2008, Quaye traveled to Beijing, China for a two-week study abroad program. For the summer of 2010, he plans on revisiting Beijing beginning July 7 to attend classes from July 15 to Aug. 25 at the Beijing Culture and Language Center—an intensive study abroad program.
"I'm extremely excited and curious as to what I'm going to encounter while I'm there," Quaye said. "I love Beijing. It's the biggest city I have been to and the people are wonderful. The food is out of this world and the environment is one that I can easily adapt to."
Quaye said he would like move to China after graduating and incorporate both Chinese and graphic design into his career. Story by Nate Coe
Click here to watch contest video |
