個人簡介：
Name :?Mino Andriantsimahavandy
姓名：Mino Andriantsimahavandy
Country of Origin :?Madagascar
國籍：馬達加斯加
你想知道我和中國的“愛情故事”嗎？聽我給您道來。22 歲那年，我收到中國駐塔那那利佛大使館的來信。塔那那利佛是馬達加斯加的首都，我在那里出生長大。我從未出國，一次也沒有。我兒時住的房子是這樣的，太破舊了，對吧？
I hastily opened the envelope and from the very first line of the letter, I understood. My dream finally came true with this simple mail. It said: “Congratulations, Miss Andriantsimahavandy Mino. The Chinese Council Scholarship awarded you with a full scholarship…”. My heartbeats went faster, my hands shook. I was accepted by Fudan University to do a Master in Chinese linguistics and applied linguistics. China? What country is that like? To be frank, I had no idea. I didn’t know anything about China, except only a little about their culture. But for a moment, I’ve longed to leave Antananarivo. I’ve longed to live on my own. I wanted to be free. And here is the beginning of my journey to China.
我急忙打開信封，看到信的第一行，我就明白了，這封簡單的信件是我夢想的起點。上面寫著：“恭喜你，Andriansimahavandy Mino 小姐。中國國家留學基金管理委員會決定授予你全額獎學金……”。我的心跳加快，手在不停地顫抖。我被復旦大學錄取了，攻讀漢語語言學和應用語言學碩士學位。中國？那是什么樣的國家？坦率地說，我不知道。我對中國幾乎一無所知，只對他們的文化略知一二。但有那么一刻，我渴望離開塔那那利佛。我一直渴望一個人生活，我想要自由。我的中國之旅由此起航。
Before enrolling to Fudan, I had to follow a one-year program of Mandarin in Nanjing Normal University. My classmates were all foreigners while the teachers were all Chinese. We made a very prompt progress in our language mastery. And I was glad to be the best student in my class. But we had very few contacts with Chinese people around our ages. So, life went on and finally I had to move to Shanghai.
在進入復旦之前，我必須在南京師范大學學習一年普通話。我的同學都是外國人，老師都是中國人。我們很快就掌握了普通話，我也很高興成為班上最優(yōu)秀的學生。但我們與同齡的中國人接觸很少。然后，生活的車輪滾滾前進，把我?guī)У搅松虾！?/p>
并不是因為南京不好，我才搬來上海。南京很棒，但請你看看上海之后再做比較吧！
I felt so small and from the very first day I reached Shanghai, I totally fell in love. It was beautiful. Nothing to do with the first picture I showed you. No! Don’t blame me for lacking patriotism please! Who doesn’t like modernity? Who doesn’t like convenience, cleanness, freedom and a life full of joy? Shanghai meant all these things to me. And I was amazed to spend 4 years of my young existence there. I had classes with a majority of Chinese students. We made friends and I was immersed in Shanghainese way of life. We hung out every weekend. Sometimes we took the bus from our dormitory directly to the Bund. Some other times, we changed subway lines a million times before arriving to the zoo… Every time I got out of my dorm, it seemed to me Shanghai was different every day. There was a lot there to explore and to discover. But more unexpectedly, the night-time was totally different.
我感覺自己太渺小了，到上海的第一天，我就徹底愛上了這座城市，它太美了。跟我兒時住的地方簡直是天壤之別。不！請不要怪我不愛國！誰不喜歡現(xiàn)代都市？誰不喜歡便利、干凈、自由和充滿歡樂的生活？上海對于我來說就是這樣的都市。我很開心在那里度過了我 4 年的青春。我的同學大多是中國人，我交了許多朋友，每天像上海人一樣生活。每周末我們都會出去玩，有時我們從宿舍坐公交車直接到外灘玩，有時我們換乘無數(shù)次地鐵才到動物園……每次出門，我都感覺上海變了一個樣兒，有很多東西需要我們探索發(fā)現(xiàn)。更令人驚喜的是，上海的夜晚與白天截然不同。
But life got harder and harder. Even if I had the best grades in Nanjing it was very, very difficult to follow the classes in Fudan. Not only was I still not good enough in Chinese to understand perfectly the teachers, but also, my major appeared to be the most complex one. I heard that linguistics was “the math of Human arts” and Chinese applied linguistics was just not a piece of cake!
但生活變得越來越困難。即使我在南京取得了最好的成績，在復旦學習也非常非常困難。因為我的中文還不夠好，聽不懂老師的話，而且我的專業(yè)似乎是最難的。我聽說語言學是“人文學科中的數(shù)學”，而漢語應用語言學也是一門非常難的學科！
Nevertheless, the department appointed me a personal tutor. With him, I worked every evening after canteen rush around 5:30 p.m. He made me buy and read Chinese newspapers out loud every time we met. He explained me the new characters, I took notes and this way, at the end of the second semester I was ready to participate more in class.
但幸運的是，系里給我指派了一位私人導師。我們每天晚上食堂高峰期后，大概 5 點半開始學習。每次見面，他都讓我買中文報紙，大聲朗讀。他給我講解生字，我跟著做筆記。所以，在第二學期結束時，我已經準備好積極融入課堂。
By saving on my monthly stipend, I could spend the next winter holidays in France.
每月省下來的補貼足夠我在法國度過寒假。
In Paris, I could sense romanticism at every place. It was also very attractive. One day, I took the subway to go to my sister’s house at the periphery of Paris. The subway stopped, and I wanted to exit. But the door didn’t open! The French woman next to me laughed and pressed at a button to open the door! What? In Shanghai every subway door automatically opens? Paris, how could you be so obsolete?
在巴黎，我到處都能感受到浪漫，這也吸引了我。一天，我坐地鐵去巴黎城郊的姐姐家。地鐵到站，我想下車，但是門沒有打開！旁邊的法國女人笑著按下了按鈕，門才打開！什么？上海的地鐵門都會自動打開！巴黎，你怎么會如此落后？
And then, I missed my Shanghai. As it happened, for me Madagascar meant the past, France the present, and China the future.
然后，我就想念上海了。對我來說，馬達加斯加意味著過去，法國意味著現(xiàn)在，而中國意味著未來。
At the moment, I’m unfortunately not in China due to the ongoing pandemic situation. But I know China is my “jia wai zhi jia” and I’m confident I will go back there pretty soon.
但不幸的是，目前由于新冠疫情，我無法回到中國。但我知道中國是我的“家外之家”，我相信我很快就會回到那里。
作者：Mino 翻譯：潘澤彬
If you would like to contribute your story, feel free to contact us.
Email: luz@mts-tech.com
Home away from home?is a collection of the unique stories written by foreigners in China and compiled by MTS. Join us on this journey of exploring 100 different stories showcasing what it truly means to live in China!《家外之家》是一本外國人在中國的獨特故事集，由外國人撰寫，精藝達公司征集匯編。歡迎外國朋友積極參與，和我們一起探尋100個不同的故事，展示生活在中國的真正意義！
It has been?5 months?already since the “Home Away from Home” essay contest began! We appreciate all the foreign friends who have participated writing?55 unique stories?about their experience as expats in China.?On October 31st, the voting system closed, and after thorough counting of likes, reads and votes, today is the time to announce the?5 winners! Drumroll please...感謝大家?5 個月以來對《家外之家》征文比賽的關注！開賽至今，我們一共征集到了?55 篇外國人在華故事，我們非常感謝此次積極參與征文活動的外國朋友。2021 年 10 月 31 日，網站投票通道也已關閉。通過計算社交媒體點贊數(shù)、閱讀數(shù)、以及網站投票數(shù)，經過激烈角逐,?5 名參賽者最終脫穎而出
