I remember my first day in Chinese language school。Eight of us foreigners were sitting around a table。Not one of us could speak a word of Chinese。The first period began，and the Chinese teacher walked into the room。She was as woman from Beijing，and she could not speak one word of English！
The teacher said，“Zao！”We all looked at each other；none of us had ever heard“zao”in our lives。So the teacher passed out a piece of paper to each of us。On the top line was written“zao‘good morning’。”So“zao”means“good morning。”That was good to know。
Then she said，“Zao，gen wo shuo！”Again we all looked at each other，because we did not have the slightest idea what she meant。But the second line of that piece of paper said“gen wo shuo‘say it after me’。”So“zao，gen wo shuo”means“good morning，say it after me。”We said，“Zao，zao，zao！”That made us feel pretty good。Already，in the first hour of the first day in language school，we could greet each other in Chinese！
That was in 1964，37 years ago。My wife and I had just arrived in Taiwan，where we planned to live and work for a long time。During our first two years there，we attended Taipei Language Institute。We went to school for five periods every day，five days a week。Each day we had two to three hours of homework，mostly listening to language tapes。
Taiwan was an ideal place to learn Putonghua。All our teachers were from Beijing，so we had a good model of standard Putonghua to learn。But on the street we encountered people from all over China，so we got used to hearing the different accents that people use in speak-ing Putonghua。Moreover，very few people could speak any English at all，so we had to learn Chinese quickly and well if we were going to function in the society。
During the years since then，I have learned some more about how to learn a second language。As I see it，there are three requirements for success in second language learning。
Native ability is the first requirement for mastery of a second language。Some people have more language learning aptitude than others。That is one reason why some Chinese students of English seem to have much less difficulty than others in their studies。Lan-guage learning aptitude is not the same as intelligence。Some students who do poorly in other subjects may learn English very well，and vice versa。Students with high language learning aptitude will find English an easy subject，and they may learn the language to a high degree of mastery。But the good news is that everybody can learn a second language。It will just be more difficult for some than for others。
Environment or opportunity is the second requirement for sec-ond language mastery。Students in Quzhou No。2 Middle School have a better opportunity for English learning than most students in China，because English is emphasized in the curriculum，the Chinese faculty of English teachers are highly qualified，and there are often native En-glish speakers teaching in the classroom。
But Quzhou No。2 Middle School is not an ideal environment or opportunity for learning English。An ideal opportunity would be if a student could go to Redwing，MN for a year or so，and she had no other Chinese speakers to talk to。It would be an ideal environment because she would have to function in English。If she could not com-prehend or communicate in English，she would starve to death！That would provide very high motivation for her to learn English quickly and well！
Of course，while this would be an ideal language-learning opportunity，it would not be easy，especially at first。Adjusting to the new environment，being among strangers，away from family and friends，and not being able to communicate much at first would be difficult and discouraging。But adjustment would come quickly，strang-ers would become new best friends，and adequate communication would develop quickly。So it would be ideal，though not easy。
Hard work is the third requirement for second language mastery。During 1980-81，I was Acting Director of the Intensive Chinese Lan-guage program at Cornell University。Several Chinese teachers worked with me。One of them was a Visiting Scholar from Tianjin。This was his first time outside of China，but he absolutely amazed me：he spoke English just like I did！American accent！Fluent！Correct grammar and usage！Wide vocabulary knowledge！In one year of working with him，I heard him make only one English mistake，one time！
What was even more amazing was that he had learned English while he was“sent down to the countryside”during the Cultural Revolution。Every day he had secretly listened to British Broadcasting Corporation，Voice of America，and language tapes。Over the years he had mastered English in that way！Amazing！