(Shanghai War Epidemic Record) French Girl Clarisse: "Translator" in the Alley

  China News Service, Shanghai, April 24th: French girl Clarisse: "translator" in the alley

  China News Service reporter Zheng Yingying

  Clarisse Le Guernic, a 26-year-old girl from France, is working as a volunteer in a community in Ruijin 2nd Street, Huangpu District, Shanghai.

She speaks French, English, and Chinese fluently, and has become a "translator" in the alley, helping foreign residents resolve some daily communication confusions.

The French girl Clarisse and her dog and cat are in her favorite Shanghai old street, Menghua Street.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

  Although social software now has a translation function, it is not entirely satisfactory.

For example, a foreigner sent the translated Chinese to the group: "Who took my express?" But what he actually wanted to express was: "I have a courier at the door, but it seems to be missing." Because there is no precise expression , The neighbors were a little angry, Clarisse quickly told him, you still use English, I can translate, don't use translation software directly, it is too easy to cause misunderstanding.

  Clarisse is responsible for serving more than a dozen foreign residents from France, the United States, Brazil and other countries in the community.

When she first started volunteering, she went door-to-door to notify them, telling them how to do nucleic acid and what they should pay attention to. "Because the loudspeaker notification was in Mandarin, they couldn't understand it, so I went to the door to notify them one by one."

  Later, she simply pulled the WeChat accounts of these foreign residents to the community chat group. Whenever the neighborhood committee sent a notice, she would be a "translator" in the group, so that the foreign residents in the community could also keep abreast of the relevant situation. .

  Clarisse speaks Mandarin very well because she has been learning Chinese since the third grade of junior high school.

She was 12 years old that year. In addition to French and English, the school offered an additional language class, including Spanish, German or Chinese.

In the Chinese trial class, the French teacher who taught the class was very interesting, and Clarisse fell in love with the language at once.

At that time, the teacher also said, "There are very few people who choose Chinese classes. In the future, this language will be our secret language in school."

  Unexpectedly, this study, she can not stop.

In high school, Chinese was still her second foreign language; as an undergraduate, she majored in Chinese at a French university; when she was in her third year, she came to Fudan University in Shanghai as an exchange student, and set herself a small school Goal: Except for chatting with family, only speak Chinese at all other times.

"At that time, I actually knew Chinese, but I had an accent. Later, I imitated other people's speech, and it gradually became better." She said.

  She still remembered that a group of foreigners gathered to practice Chinese at that time, "there were those from Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia, and it felt like we all 'invented' our own Chinese at that time, and there were many mistakes, but we didn't care, we could still listen understand each other's Chinese."

Photo courtesy of French girl Clarisse (Le Gaixi) volunteering in Shanghai

  Clarisse said that some parents let their children learn Chinese because they feel that China is getting better and better, and they can find jobs after learning Chinese.

But since she was a teenager, she said that she wanted to live in China, "I was curious at first, but gradually I found that I speak Chinese more confidently than I speak French, I am not afraid to communicate with strangers, and I can be myself. , I think I might belong here."

  Clarisse is from a small seaside city with a population of only 50,000 in western France. When she first arrived in Shanghai, which has a population of 25 million, she saw the busy traffic and high-rise buildings. She didn't like the big city and thought: stay for a few years, then go to Chinese rural life.

  But over time, she found that she particularly liked Shanghai, the history, architecture, and the enthusiasm of Shanghai people. "Sometimes, walking into a longtang is like leaving a big city and stopping in a small village. I Think of Shanghai as having many small villages, all gathered together."

  After finishing her undergraduate studies, Clarisse wanted to stay in China, but found it a little difficult. "I learned Chinese, but everyone here does, and I need other tools."

Photo courtesy of French girl Clarisse (Le Gaixi) volunteering in Shanghai

  So, she continued her postgraduate studies and chose to major in tourism management, studying in France and China.

After graduating in 2019, she stayed in Shanghai.

At first, I worked in a travel company run by a French, taking foreigners to ride in Shanghai. Later, the company closed due to the epidemic.

"At the time, I thought that if I wanted to continue to find a job in the tourism industry, it might be difficult in the short term; I didn't want to go back to France, so I chose to start a business in Shanghai," she said.

  So, she and her friends started to run a company on a small scale, doing the history, architecture and tourism that she was thinking of, sometimes walking in the city, sometimes exploring Shanghai, but they were all inseparable from the old buildings in Shanghai, and Shanghai historical celebrities.

  How did the entrepreneurship work?

"There is no financial pressure," she said.

She is more optimistic about the outlook because after the epidemic is over, the market will be bigger and there will be more customers.

  Clarisse has a Chinese name, Le Gaixi.

She said it was taken for her by a Shandong classmate on her 19th birthday, "I was an exchange student in Shanghai at the time, and my classmate asked me what birthday present I wanted, and I said, give me a Chinese name. Having this name, on the one hand because it sounds similar to my French name, on the other hand because it fits my personality, I'm very 'optimistic'."

The French girl Clarisse (Le Gaixi) is volunteering in Shanghai. The picture shows her taking a group photo with her volunteer partners.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

  "Sometimes I'm also unhappy, but I think, there is nothing to be happy about now, and if I think about it a lot, then I should be happy," she said.

In her opinion, one must be optimistic, otherwise it will be difficult to live in this world. After all, no country is perfect, just like no perfect person.

  Today, Clarisse lives with her friends in a Shanghai Shikumen building that she likes. She said that it has the ideal life she wants: more freedom, self-employment, and can arrange her own time; she often travels, except during the epidemic, she often She can go out for a walk; she can keep some pets, she now has a dog and three cats; she can drive, she has a Chinese driver's license; she has made many friends, and her parents will not worry about her being alone...

  "My life is here. Everyone's ideas are different, and it's just as personal as it feels comfortable," she said.

(Finish)