by Deena Ebrahim Kahzad To promote interest in learning Chinese language and culture to MCU international students, IC office held Mandarin speech contests on Taipei and Taoyuan campus on 10/7 and 10/14. This contest appealed to many international students, allowing them to share why they want to learn Mandarin, why they study in Taiwan and their culture shock in Taiwan. During the contest, the most touching speech was from Burkina Faso’s Pare Joagni. He said the reason he learns Mandarin is because he received help from so many Taiwanese strangers. So, he decided to study very hard to express his appreciation. On Taoyuan campus, one female student from Vietnam shared that she learns Mandarin because she thinks Chinese characters are subtle and have their own ancient flavor. Winners of the Mandarin speech contest on Taipei campus (Friday 2011/10/07) were: Pare Joagni, Edgar Diaz and Juan Ramon Montero Loo. Taoyuan campus winners (Friday 2011/10/14) were: Phug Thi Thu Trang, Timothy and Ha Thi Diu.