Jane Berdysheva ’14 comes alive when conversing in one of her seven languages.

“When you are passionate about something, you find a way to make it happen.” That’s Yevgeniya “Jane” Berdysheva’s explanation for how she can study five languages simultaneously without becoming hopelessly confused.

Berdysheva ’14 was born in Ukraine and has often visited family there, but grew up in the Chicago area. Her first language was Russian, although she learned English at a young age. By high school she was deeply immersed in studying French, Spanish, and Chinese. “I think the most rewarding aspect of studying another language is the way it brings a new part of me to life,” she says, “when I interact with native speakers of that language.”

Coming to Macalester only fed what she calls her obsession. She studied Chinese at Macalester for four years; took several French classes and one German class; and audited Japanese, Russian, and Spanish, because, as she puts it, “Why not?” In May, Berdysheva graduated with majors in psychology and Chinese. She chose to study Chinese because she felt its complexity required further concentration and because she found the department to be both excellent and friendly.

“I think the most interesting aspect of Chinese culture is the writing system,” says Berdysheva. “Having characters unites Chinese culture despite the hundreds of dialects. Each dialect is unintelligible to those who do not speak it, but characters provide a strong unity and form of communication. We don’t know what Chinese sounded like in the pre-modern era, but because of characters we can still understand the meaning of some ancient poems.”

Berdysheva devoted last summer to an intensive study of Chinese in Chengdu, China, funded by a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. State Department. Now she’s returning to China–Jiaxing, this time (near Shanghai)—to work as a Russian translator for Zhejiang Huapeng Import and Export Trading Company. Having recently discovered that she enjoys tango, waltz, and salsa, Berdysheva also hopes to find a good place to take Western dance lessons once she settles in.

September 3 2014

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