German Student Won the First-Ever Championship at the 2025 YZU Language Talents Show with Fluent Mandarin

The International Language and Culture Center (ILCC) of Yuan Ze University held the 2025 YZU Language Talents Show finals on December 3. This year marked a breakthrough, as the competition included a Mandarin category for the first time, in addition to the traditionally featured English categories.

The new category encouraged international students to showcase their Mandarin learning achievements. The event received an overwhelming response, attracting nearly 100 participants. Ultimately, 30 finalists advanced to today’s stage through the categories of Mandarin Singing, English Singing, and English Oral Expression.

The annual Language Talents Show had long become a signature event at Yuan Ze University as part of ILCC’s efforts to enhance students’ communication skills and stage confidence. With nearly one hundred applicants this year, the competition was especially intense. During the finals, the judging panel evaluated performances based on language proficiency (50%), performance skills (30%), and creativity (20%).

The highlight of this year’s competition was the newly added Mandarin category, providing international students the chance to stand on stage and express themselves through Mandarin. In this division, Lisa Yeh from Germany, a student in the Master’s Program in Bioinformatics and Medical Engineering, won first place in Mandarin Singing with her outstanding performance. Lisa shared that she had always loved learning languages, and Mandarin had become her recent favorite. After visiting Taiwan, she discovered its cultural diversity, Indigenous heritage, and—most importantly—the warmth of Taiwanese people, which motivated her to pursue a master’s degree at Yuan Ze University.

Lisa mentioned that the most challenging part of learning Mandarin was mastering tones. While studying in a Mandarin-speaking environment was helpful, she believed that being willing to speak was the key to improvement. She explained that although learning Mandarin through singing might not train tones perfectly, the musical rhythm helped her naturally memorize Mandarin expressions. Her performance on stage impressed the judges with clear pronunciation and emotional delivery, truly demonstrating learning through enjoyment.

In addition to the Mandarin category, the English Singing and English Oral Expression competitions were equally exciting. The finalists had been selected through an earlier online audition. Performances in the English Oral Expression division were highly diverse, featuring monologues, short plays, speeches, and poetry recitations—all displaying the creativity and strong linguistic abilities of Yuan Ze University students.

The International Language and Culture Center stated that the goal of hosting this competition was to break away from traditional, passive language-learning approaches and create a platform for both local and international students to interact and grow. The remarkable achievements seen in the Mandarin category this year demonstrated the success of Yuan Ze University’s commitment to building a bilingual and multicultural-friendly campus.