Northwestern State University assistant professor of business, Dr. Weiwen Liao, gave an informative and entertaining talk on Chinese language and culture at NSU’s Russell Hall Tuesday, February 4. Dr. Liao, a native of China, has been at NSU since 2015 where she teaches courses in international business and operations management.

Dr. Liao spoke of the complexities of Mandarin, the version of the language spoken by the majority of the country’s population. Mandarin uses four tones, each of which give a different meaning to a word. Mandarin is also structured differently than Western languages in that it does not have an alphabet. The students attending the talk had the opportunity to practice some basic Chinese phrases. She also gave an overview of China’s geography, size and population.

Liao also spoke of different aspects of Chinese Culture and family life. The talk was sponsored by NSU’s chapter of Phi Beta Delta, an honor society dedicated to promoting international education. NSU’s chapter is one of over 200 chapters in the United States and around the world. Dr. Liao’s presentation is the first in a series. Ms. Neeru Deep of NSU’s Psychology Department will give a presentation on Hindu culture and the Hindi language at Russell Hall at 5:30 Tuesday, February 12.