By Admin. Updated 5:55 a.m., Friday, November 24, 2023, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
Jolesia Pope began a journey to learn Mandarin in February 2022 at the age of 17. Now in 2023, more than a year later, the 18-year-old has won an international Mandarin singing competition.
The Taiwan ICDF Mandarin Singing Competition was held from June to September and involved competitors from ten (10) countries including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St Christopher/ Nevis, St Lucia, Belize, Haiti, Guatemala, Paraguay, Turkey, Palau, and Jordan
The Arnos Vale resident was among three Vincentian students from the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College – SVGCC Mandarin Class, to represent this country in the competition.
She has since graduated from the SVGCC with an associate degree in Office Administration.
The other participants from the SVGCC were Abigail Richards and Tansha George.
In an interview with One News SVG, Pope said she always wanted to learn foreign languages, including Mandarin.
She took a step while being a student at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College to enroll in Mandarin classes, a decision that has so far paid off.
At the time, Pope and the other participants from the SVGCC were described by their Mandarin language teacher, Yuhui Huang as “relatively new to the Mandarin language” but displaying “exceptional linguistic clarity and impressive vocal precision”.
Pope who is also a musical ariste said when she heard about the singing competition she decided to enter “because it was an opportunity to get better at the language”.
Pope said when she received the news that she won, she was happy and relieved that it was over.
“My focus was not really on the competition,” she told One News SVG.
She said Mandarin differs from English in terms of the grammar of the language and the tonal nature of the language.
“The grammar overall is different. It’s like speaking/reading English backward at times. In Mandarin, words are said with tones while English words are not,” she explained.
The musical enthusiast also left some advice for persons who might be fearful of starting a journey of learning Mandarin or a second language.
“My advice would be to “Just do it”, like Nike’s motto said. Don’t let fear rob you of the possibility of an opportunity that may take you further in life,” the teen said.
Pope said she sees herself studying in a country that speaks Mandarin because of her interest in the language.
One News SVG 