编者按：在跨文化交流日益频繁的今天，我们习惯用更加高效的方式完成彼此间的沟通，比如依靠专业的翻译或使用国际通用的英语，语言间的障碍往往也在这一过程中悄然消融。然而，当来自白俄罗斯的文化小大使汉娜（Zhyhunova Hanna）主动选择用尚不完美的中文接受采访时，我们看到了沟通的另一种可能。流利的表达固然能够赢得掌声，但真诚往往更能打开心扉。当语言褪去技巧的浮华，回归情感的本真，不同文化的相遇便能超越形式的桎梏，在心灵深处激起共鸣的涟漪。

在由中国宋庆龄基金会主办的“文化小大使”活动现场，15岁的汉娜完成了一次中文采访。她生动地描述了对火锅的喜爱，分享了参观故宫的独特感受。然而，这次采访背后有着一个不为人知的小插曲：为了用中文完成采访，汉娜进行了两次尝试。

图为汉娜（左1）在中国印象·沙龙活动现场

在第一次接受采访时，汉娜表现出对自己中文的高要求。虽然在我们听来，她的表述已相当流畅，但在又一次不能用中文准确传递自己的意思时，汉娜没能控制住自己的眼泪。我们安慰她，提议可以穿插英文辅助表达。汉娜却摇了摇头，哽咽着说：“我希望用中文完成我的采访。”出于对这份执着的尊重，我们暂停了这次采访。

我们通常会赞美那些成功的、完美的展示，但汉娜的眼泪与坚持却让我们看到了文化交流中更加珍贵的内容——真诚与尊重。在这个追求效率与完美的时代，我们习惯于将沟通的首要目标设定为信息的精准传递，却忽略了其更深层的情感联结与心灵共鸣。当她选择用中文完成采访时，语言便已不再是单纯的沟通工具，而成为一种文化的标志。而汉娜的执着，超越了语言学习的范畴，成为一种主动接近其他文化的具体行动。她的目的不在于展示语言能力，而是通过最直接的方式，实践着对另一种文化的尊重。那些明知很难却坚持用中文表达的瞬间，正是文化间最真实的对话时刻。她的“不完美”，正超越了功利沟通的现状，传递出比语言本身更深刻的内容：一种愿意袒露弱点、主动靠近的勇气。

图为汉娜在对外经贸大学博物馆参观

在晚上的“中国印象·沙龙”活动现场，我们再次见到了汉娜。她表示愿意继续接受采访，还特意向我们展示了她写的中文手稿。“我又准备了很久，相信这次我会成功的！”汉娜说。当镜头再次开启，那个白天因语言困难而落泪的女孩，此刻显得沉着而坚定。她的语速不快，言语间仍带着思考的痕迹，但每一句话都藏着她的付出与努力。从挫折到重新出发，汉娜用她的勇气跨越了语言的障碍，更完成了一次深刻的文化对话。

采访结束后，汉娜兴奋地对我们说：“谢谢你们！我今天收获了很多！”汉娜的成功，不在于她最终说出了多么标准的中文，而在于她让我们看到：当一个人愿意用不完美而真实的姿态去叩响另一种文化的大门时，语言的瑕疵反而成为最动人的媒介。

图为汉娜在采访现场与采编人员的合照

当我们竭力在跨文化交流中维系一个完美形象时，汉娜却用她的“失败”说明，破冰或许可以从一次不完美开始。这一不同的沟通逻辑也向我们发出了提醒：当我们日益熟练地依赖精准翻译等高效却间接的工具时，是否也在无形中筑起了一道效率至上的高墙？我们是否因为对“完美无瑕”的执着，反而丧失了袒露“不完美”的真诚勇气？在这一过程中，跨文化交流是否又被简化为一项任务或一种技能？

汉娜的采访经历，能够让我们对固有的交流模式进行反思。它启示我们，那些在跨文化交流中的不完美尝试也有着属于自己的价值。因此，虽然我们仍需要追求高效的沟通，但也应该有意识地守护那些缓慢、笨拙却充满真诚的对话空间，为“不完美”留出一方天地。因为，当语言褪去浮华，文化间心与心的相遇才真正开始。

图为汉娜在中国印象·沙龙活动现场

撰稿人：何博媛

 When Words Failed, Sincerity Spoke: A Teenager's Cross-Cultural Lesson

Editor's Note: In an era of frequent cross-cultural exchanges, we often rely on professional translators or international English for efficiency. While these tools break down language barriers, a moment with Zhyhunova Hanna, a Junior Cultural Ambassador from Belarus, made us reconsider. Despite her still-developing Chinese, she insisted on using it for our interview. Her choice revealed a different kind of communication: one where sincerity opens hearts more effectively than flawless speech. When language strips away technical polish, the authentic meeting of cultures can truly begin.

At the Junior Cultural Ambassador event hosted by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, 15-year-old Hanna completed an interview in Chinese. She vividly described her love for hot pot and shared her unique feelings about visiting the Forbidden City. Yet, behind this interview lay a little-known episode: to complete the interview in Chinese, Hanna made two attempts.

During the first try, Hanna held herself to a very high standard. While her speech sounded fairly fluent to our ears, there came a moment when she struggled to find the right words. She was eventually reduced to tears. We comforted her and suggested she could mix in some English to aid her expression. But Hanna shook her head and said tearfully, "I want to complete my interview in Chinese." Out of respect for her determination, we paused the interview, thinking that might be the end of it.

We often praise flawless presentations, but Hanna's tears and persistence revealed something far more precious in cultural exchange: sincerity and respect. In this age that pursues efficiency, we often set the accurate transmission of information as the primary goal, overlooking its deeper purpose: emotional connection. When she chose to do the interview in Chinese, language was no longer just a tool, but a gesture of cultural respect. Her goal was not to showcase her language skills, but to demonstrate respect for another culture in the most direct way possible. Those moments where she persisted in expressing herself in Chinese, despite the difficulty, were precisely the moments of the most genuine dialogue. Her "imperfection" surpassed the utility of typical communication, conveying something deeper: the courage to be vulnerable and to reach out.

At the evening "Impressions of China" salon, we saw Hanna again. She expressed her willingness to continue the interview and even made a point of showing us the Chinese script she had prepared. "I prepared for a long time again. I believe I will succeed this time!" she said. When the camera started rolling, the girl who had been reduced to tears by language barriers earlier that day now faced the camera with calm determination. She didn't speak quickly, and her words still bore traces of careful thought, but every sentence was filled with dedication. Moving from frustration to a fresh start, Hanna used her courage not only to cross a language barrier but also to engage in a profound cultural dialogue.

After the interview, Hanna excitedly told us, "Thank you! I gained a lot today!" Her success lay not in speaking flawless Chinese, but in showing us that when a person is willing to knock on the door of another culture with an authentic attitude, the very imperfections in her language became the most powerful medium.

While we often strive to maintain a perfect image in cross-cultural communication, Hanna used her perceived "failure" to demonstrate that breaking the ice can perhaps begin with an imperfection. This different logic of communication also prompts us to reflect: as we become increasingly skilled at relying on efficient yet indirect tools like precise translation, are we inadvertently building a wall where efficiency reigns supreme? Has our obsession with "flawlessness" caused us to lose the sincere courage to reveal our "imperfections"? In this process, has cross-cultural exchange been reduced to merely a task or a skill?

Hanna's interview experience invites us to reflect on our ingrained modes of communication. It reveals that those imperfect attempts in cross-cultural exchange hold their own unique value. Therefore, while we still need to pursue efficient communication, we should also consciously protect space for those slow, awkward, yet deeply sincere conversations, making room for "imperfection." Because when language sheds its flashiness, the true heart-to-heart meeting between cultures can finally begin.