thinK local: DONG FEIYU
Chinese
“THEY GAVE ME A CONTACT PERSON!” Four years after moving to Luxembourg, Dong Feiyu gives her insight into living and working in the Grand Duchy.
dong Feiyu: not scared of French anymore
Interview: Aaron Grunwald — Photo: David Laurent/Wide
A native of Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia in China, Dong Feiyu worked in Beijing before pursuing graduate studies in educational science in Holland and Belgium. She met her husband Martijn in the Netherlands, and they moved when he was transferred to Luxembourg in 2008. Today she teaches Chinese.
have ‘the sense’ of it, you know. Now, more or less, I understand a little bit. But to have conversation? Ummm, no. AG: Has that been a problem for you? DF: It depends. If I go to offices or government bureaus, it’s fine, it’s no problem. But if I go to the supermarket, sometimes I want to ask, ‘what’s this, what are the ingredients?’ and I have problems. Not everybody in basic daily life can speak English. But I think they understand. Like me, I understand, but to speak? I already got over this so-called scared thing. I think now it’s fine, I got used to things. AG: How did you end up teaching Chinese? DF: I went to the Chinese embassy actually. They told me that there is a Chinese school in Luxembourg City, and said from what you learned, you can teach Chinese! AG: Who are your students? DF: The students are from about six years old to 15 or 16. Mainly the young ‘kiddos’ come from Chinese families. Their grandparents or parents moved from China to Luxembourg. That’s about 90 percent of them. For the rest, some of them they have mixed parents, and some of them are just European or western children. The parents would like to give one extra skill for their children later on in this world. It will be nice for their future.
AG: What did you know about Luxembourg when you and your husband were considering moving here? DF: I had heard that it’s the paradise for children. I thought that would be nice, since we just had had a child, so I said, ‘yes, let’s move to Luxembourg!’ AG: What surprised you after moving here? DF: I was scared of French! I thought, oh my gosh, I don’t understand! In China, I learned English. Mandarin is my mother tongue, of course, and then my third language in university was Russian. Then I went to Holland. I understand Dutch, but can’t really speak it well, because my courses were in English. I could use English to communicate and I never had a problem doing anything in Holland. Then we moved to Luxembourg. And I have realised, oh no; French! You have to speak French! I tried to learn French and it’s so difficult. Maybe because for adults it’s more difficult to learn a language. So I don’t
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AG: What language do you speak with your husband? DF: English. AG: With your son? DF: Chinese. And between father and son, Dutch. AG: Does your son speak English? DF: He understands and speaks a little bit because he hears it every day. Right now in school he speaks Luxembourgish. Then Chinese, Dutch and English. And German next year, because he will be six. That’s one thing about the multilingual surroundings. It’s wonderful. Children can adapt much more than adults. They won’t mix it up in their minds. They know at school, Luxembourgish, with mama, Chinese, with dad, OK, Dutch. That makes it so easy. I’m really jealous! AG: What has been your experience with the Luxembourg authorities? DF: The government, actually, they did a really good thing. I had just moved here and I had no idea about things. I went to the [Luxembourg] city hall and they gave us all of the information. They even gave me a contact person to ask about children and schools. They gave me a contact person! That really amazed me. AG: What advice would you give newcomers? DF: If you don’t speak French, you have to learn a little bit, at least for daily communication.