Over the course of three weeks, Youngsun completed a total of 36 hours of one-on-one Cantonese lessons with multiple instructors at the Hong Kong Language Learning Center (HKLLC). Her project was an immersion study of Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese, with the goal of mastering the tones and pronunciations of the language.
“My host family is very nice,” she wrote. “Through holiday gatherings they introduced me to their extended family too, all of whom were so welcoming! Although I came here by myself not knowing anybody around, I have spent hardly a day all by myself – and meeting locals through locals, I have been practicing my Cantonese religiously, and I am actually learning a lot faster than I thought I would. I have completed the 28 class hours out of the total 36 scheduled hours. I only wish I could stay and study for a longer time.”
