From a Chinese Small Town Girl to Polyglot, Academic, and YouTuber: My Story - Sous-titres bilingues
Hey guys, welcome to my channel.
Today I would like to share my story with you.
I think I've never talked about it on my English channel.
Many know me from language videos, especially those on language learning, history.
For new friends to this channel, I'm Zoe currently doing my PhD in sociology in Germany and in France.
This is This is actually my last year and I'm super stressed because of my thesis, that's why recently I don't upload very often.
I speak some languages and I use four of them in my work.
Now my two YouTube channels and one B&B channel for mainland China public have around 1 million followers.
I can't believe it too.
years have passed since I decided to start my youtube journey.
I've been so grateful for your support and love.
I rarely talk about my background.
Some strangers who watch my videos might guess.
I grew up abroad, perhaps from a diploma's family, so I even think I've never worked a day in my life.
Say I must be rich to learn so many things.
languages and travel around.
I get these kind of comments quite often.
Although they obviously make me smile, I feel it's time to clear it up.
Today I will share with you how I grew up in a small town in China,
went college, worked for several years, quit my job, but then went abroad, perceived with a master, then a PhD learned differently.
languages and now I'm a teacher at a university, and also a content creator.
The idea of making this video is to let you all know me better.
If you like it, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share.
I come from a small town in Guangxi, drunk province in China.
Both parents are ordinary government workers.
They grew up in the era where not many people have attended university in China.
I'm not from an intellectual family, nothing international.
My parents can't even speak English.
I'm the only child in the family.
My grandmother and my parents take very good care of me.
They cared about my education, but my family never really put much pressure on me to pursue perfect rate.
Especially my mom, she was always there for me as I grew up.
We are like friends and can talk about anything.
Even now while I'm abroad and busy, I used to make sure to quote my mom several times a week.
I might not run a wealthy or intellectual family, but I certainly come from a happy and supportive one.
This has given me a lot of confidence and the courage to dream and try different things.
I feel very very grateful for it.
For university, I went to a regular college in Guangzhou.
This university is renowned for its foreign language majors,
but I filled out my major application with all the foreign languages at the top of my list,
including English,
French, German, Italian, and Unfortunately, my schools weren't high enough, so I was rejected from these programs and ended up in a non-language major.
I always dreamed of speaking foreign languages, and now I can't believe I've made that dream come true.
intense pressure of a Gao Kao, the tough college entrance exam in China.
I spent most of my university life just letting loose partying and hanging out with friends.
At that time, I was quite lost.
Like many Chinese students, after surviving the Gao Kao, university life seemed to be just a step I needed to take.
taking the predetermined path of life,
securing a good job of getting married,
having kids buying a house in a car, there were the standards of success in our society at the time.
That was my vision of the world and of my future.
What else was there?
One thing I regret about my university years is not taking the time to study more.
laminar languages, read books, exercise small and focus on self-development.
However, this face also made me appreciate that this aspect more deeply later in life and helped clarify what I truly wanted.
That's why when I returned to university for my master's degree, I deeply valued the opportunity to study and restart my life.
It wasn't in my life,
Until my senior years of university when I first saw friends planning to study abroad for a master's degree, then I started considering going overseas.
Initially, I wanted to go to the US, like most Chinese students.
I wanted to study communication and I was even preparing for all the necessary exams.
Then I brought the idea to my parents.
I remember we were making the budget to study for two to three years in the US.
It was super expensive and beyond what my family's financial situation could handle.
My mum was very supportive, she suggested selling our house and writing a smaller apartment to found my education.
I spent a sleepless night.
After talking to my mom, I was wrestling with a decision of whether to go abroad.
The next day,
I decided not to do it because I didn't want to make my family's life harder after that the idea of going abroad was put on hold.
Looking back, it all came down to timing.
Back then, I really didn't know what I wanted.
or why I wanted to go to the US.
I knew that others were going and I wanted to do as well.
An experience abroad sounded fancy for a small town girl getting a foreign diploma to boost my job
prospects and possibly adding a fancy international touch to my resume in the future.
That was all I knew about studying abroad.
I was still quite lost.
I was growing up in a school system where you just needed to follow the lessons and earn good grade.
I had no idea about managing my life along,
which is very different from the state that I would be in after a few years of a work experience.
After after after after after after a of a of year graduation, I got a job at a big company in Shenzhen.
The pay was quite well for a fresh graduated but the job was really overwhelming.
I barely had any personal time and working late and on weekend was common.
The company's culture was all about fight for the company, fight for yourself.
discussions between colleagues often centered around,
who achieved a certain position in their house, in within five years, who got a promotion and changed to a new BMW.
You were expected to aim for that.
What else?
Looking back, I see how much that mice had was really brainwashing and death.
imaging.
I remember how some competent senior managers were often praised for their sacrifices to the company.
Sacrificing time with their families and personal lives.
I I saw one female manager who always seemed anxious and spoke to our subcontractors aggressively to assert her authority.
Then my manager told me, Zoe, you are too kind and gentle.
If you want to manage a team in the future, you should learn from her.
That's when I told myself, no, I don't want to be her.
I don't want a life like that.
So for those who say it looks like I've never worked, you really don't know what I have been doing.
through.
Now live in work between Germany and France.
My friends often joke that Germans work very hard.
Then I say compared to the Chinese.
That's nothing.
During the first two years of my career, I had serious snack and back pain issues.
I sick often due to the pressure stress and lack of exercise.
I love reading, but I didn't even have time for that.
I started thinking about changing and transforming my lifestyle.
Eventually, I decided to switch jobs and file a position at a PR agency in Guangzhou, which was relatively more relaxed.
That was my salary was somehow lower.
I just didn't want to sacrifice my health and life anymore.
During this period, I developed of the habits of a morning swings and exercise to reduce my neck and back pain.
I time to pick a reading and I also found time to cook for myself even to pastry.
Pastry was my passion.
That explains why I was obsessed with France.
The telling point came with my best friend and I decided to travel to Paris.
It was just an idea.
Then I say, yes, why not?
Let's do it.
Guys, you know what?
I had never been abroad before that.
I remember my first day in Paris.
I had 400 euros on me.
That was stolen in the metro.
I was so shocked and afraid.
But...
It didn't stop me from falling in love with France,
I know it's also a bit contradictory,
but I just didn't want this first negative experience to affect my mood, to enjoy my vacation and this beautiful city.
That trip to Paris was cognitive shock for me, I would call it.
I told you it was my first time abroad,
in Bixxie,
It is in China, it feels like we spend most of our time on the road, rushing from point A to B, then C.
Everything so hurried and purposefully driven.
Your weekend activities often end up in a shopping mall.
In contracts, Paris a different experience.
Walking through Paris wasn't just physical, moving, but a process of conversing with and exploring the city itself.
Along the way, you discover many history buildings, cafes, bati suri, and perhaps even catch a sunset by less than viewed with many surprises.
I was just so curious about everything.
The funny part is that French people outside Paris,
often complex that Paris is super fast and busy but for someone who has worked and lived in the big Chinese city is really,
really slow and relaxing.
Another aspect was the lifestyle.
For the first time I realized that people could live differently in many different ways.
I sitting at the roadside.
cafe, just watching passersby, observing their clothes, the way they talk, that they add.
I know these impressions of Paris might be buyers, because I was on vacation.
It was my first time in Europe.
I know both China and France have their good and bad aspect.
This tree fundamentally ignited me.
it's my curiosity and interest in another culture and society, which is why I wanted to study languages and sociology.
I started to ask myself, what's the difference between these two societies?
Why do people live like that, behave like that?
I just wanted to learn more about it.
After returning to Guangzhou, I started thinking about learning French.
I cited it immediately for a week in class at Alios Frances,
thinking of it as a hobby for future travels to France,
one day I ran into an info session about studying in France after the lesson and they happened to discuss the cost of studying there.
France education system is primarily public, the tuition was quite affordable.
compared to the US.
I was saying, with the money I'd say from working and with my family's support, I could afford it.
It was just about learning French.
At the same time, I was also reading a lot about philosophy, sociology, and anthropology.
Knowing French academics have a good reputation in these views.
And it's not gathering information for all sources about the application process, in schools, I different universities and language schools and I got accepted.
Everything so quickly.
Then I quick my job and moved to France.
This meant starting everything from scratch in a new country.
At the beginning Meaning I faced many many difficulties, like languagey barriers, fighting a flat, being scammed.
I had very low self-esteem because I couldn't understand what people were saying.
I spoke broken French.
I started stupid.
I was questioning myself countless times about whether it was worth giving up everything for someone who was speaking broken French at that time.
This seemed so ambitious and unrealistic to do a PhD in sociology.
Many told me it was impossible to study social sciences in French after only one year of learning the language.
challenging for a non-francoform student, but at the time I was very firm about the life I wanted.
I wanted to fluently speak French and pursue a PhD,
teach, be and travel around the Looking back at myself now, becoming the person I once dreamed of, it feels truly amazing.
That desire was so strong it guided me to make many decisions.
For some after moving abroad,
rather than hanging out with some other Chinese students who were just killing time,
playing Marjian and partying, I preferred to sacrifice this social activities to spend more time studying.
I my circle of friends carefully surrounding myself a bit positive and hard-working individuals.
I was trying everything to improve my friends.
I to it all the time when I realized my speaking skills were weak.
I sought every opportunity to communicate.
with classmates or participated in very cultural activities to meet French people.
Language was just the first challenge.
My master's study period was particularly tough.
I read very slowly.
I was struggling to understand just a few pages of a book.
I couldn't completely understand the lessons and found it.
hard to take note.
I was afraid to speak during the class because I feared making mistakes.
I was afraid to take exams because I wrote a slower than my French peers and made the spelling and grammatical errors.
Once I failed an exam, the only time, because I misunderstood the question for the essay and wrote something completely off the page.
topic.
I asked myself, could I even pursue a PhD with this level of proficiency?
Or I aiming too high?
Sometimes I felt discouraged.
I my family.
I was crying under the shower.
Why of what's murmured?
You can't even understand the lesson.
You can't even pass a basic exam.
But I always reminded me.
myself that I had come this far and I needed to believe in my efforts and consistency.
If I couldn't understand the cause, I recorded the lesson and listened to it rapidly at home, making transcriptions until everything was clear.
Although I read slowly, I could spend 10 times longer on the chapter than my French peers, if necessary.
And gradually, I began to read faster.
Before exams, I would list all possible questions and practice writing several essays, carefully creating them to avoid basic spelling and grammatical mistakes.
These improvements didn't happen overnight.
They were the result of years of effort.
There's a saying, when?
you are a migrant and come to a new country, where you don't speak the language.
Compared your peers, you are like disabled.
On Ticape, we say in French, I mean, you have to struggle more just to do normal things.
I remember one professor who taught sociology of a religion, very In Froms, the perfect score is 20, with 10 as passing.
He was known for ruthlessly giving score of 0 or 1, causing many of the fail his course.
However, I managed to score the highs in our class with an 18th first.
I loved this course.
me specifically to express his surprise that a non-native speaker could write such a quality essay.
Although it was a small achievement, it truly was a highlight of my life.
It felt like all my efforts were finally a pain of.
It wasn't about the great, but I knew a change.
achieving high grades meant smoothly applying for PhD programs and scholarship, which could bring me closer to that dream.
This really boosted my confidence.
I recently stumbled upon some psychological concept that resonated deeply with my experiences, particularly the effect of stepping out of one's comfort zone.
to embrace new challenges.
For me, this was learning French.
Like, this achieved a small goal of reaching an A1 level in French.
First, when I made it, I created a positive feedback loop.
This loop reinforced my confidence.
Actually, I can do it.
I proved that to myself that I was capable of learning and it was never too late.
I the same for Arabic learning.
I had an idea like I'm interested in the question of the Arab community in France.
That would be great if I can speak Arabic.
The moment I got this idea I searched directly if there are any Arabic lessons in my university.
Then I made a very good teacher who has reinforced my injury.
about everything starts from the first step.
Psychologically, this process involves what is known as the spread zoom.
It refers to a state or condition in which individuals are challenged just beyond their common level of competence,
but still within reach of their capacities.
By myself into this zoom, I was not just learning a new language but also training my resilience and expanding my cognitive boundaries.
Starting with learning French, I slowly developed a good study habit which I then applied to two my other studies.
During process, each success, no matter how small, convinced me further of my potential.
Learning Arabic was incredibly challenging.
Initially, thought I could master it when one year, just like I did with French, but it actually took me three years to have a proper level.
After one year of learning,
I was frustrated because I still couldn't help a conversation, but I reminded myself of what I had been through while learning French.
I told myself, you can do it, you can do it.
I also learned to adapt myself.
I more about the difficulties and the factors that that influenced my progress.
It's so important to keep motivating myself and not skip up.
Learning Arabic turned out to be one of the most beautiful decisions of my life.
It up a complex new world.
Throughout this experience, I not only improved my language skills but also developed a personal learning system and I expanded them into my life.
I applied it to learning other languages like German,
Persian and Turkey, which I also used while pursuing my PhD teaching, making YouTube videos, working out and acquiring a variety of new skills.
There is one concept I like in Psychology called Growth Myset, developed by the Carol Drag.
It that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work.
I moved from a fixed Myset to a Growth Myset.
But this change was like shifting from a narrow perspective to a much broader one.
Originally, I was held back by traditional belief and lived by conventional standards of success.
These standards were like a net, limiting my thoughts and actions to a specific set of expectations.
I believe that to be successful, I have to fit in this.
narrow definitions, but now I put more emphasis on the process of learning.
I focus on what I learned in game along the way.
I'm not afraid to try and fail, because I see failure as a normal process, a chance to grow.
Adopting your growth mindset also means setting new personal goals and boundaries.
It has a help.
me discover a lot of my potential.
I never thought I would adapt so quickly to living abroad.
I would travel along the Middle East, I could learn three languages simultaneously be confident enough to share my story with many people on YouTube.
These mice have helped me see that success and happiness can be identified in many, many ways.
Through my travels and work, I met people from different countries and backgrounds.
I saw the struggles of people in different societies and the lives in different social classes.
This came in glimpse into many different human conditions and lifestyles.
As I shared, this story is I realize there's so much more to tell.
Please let me know in a comment which part of my journey you would like to hear more about.
I don't see myself as particularly successful.
Success means different things to different people.
I also have my struggles, but I can say I like who I am now.
I think it's important to be your own best friend.
and supporter.
If you are feeling a bit lost, I hope my story can inspire you.
If you are working towards your dreams, I hope my experiences can motivate you.
If you like this video, remember to like, subscribe and share.
See you in the next one.
Bye!
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