Feature: Quini: very special Spanish student of Chinese

"Everyone says I have a Chinese face," says 'Quini', who jokes that her family on the mother's side was from the Canary Islands. "There were a lot of Chinese sailors there in the past and maybe one was 'friend' with my great-grandmother," she laughed.

That would be one explanation for why the 83-year-old decided to learn Chinese 15 years ago, but the other is perhaps more simple. "I have a passion for books and I've always had a great interest for China and read a lot about the country," she told Xinhua.

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of Spanish people studying Chinese, and around 25,000 are now learning the language. However, there can be very few students like Quini, who lists Chinese among the seven languages (Spanish, French, Italian, German, Arabic, English and Chinese) that she speaks.

"I also speak a bit of Basque and Russian," she added, explaining that her adventure with Chinese began when her husband installed a satellite dish which captured a signal from CCTV: "one of the things they broadcast were Chinese classes for children."

"I thought, if children can learn, then so can I," she explained.

There is a long way from watching children's classes on the TV to being able to translate Li Bai's verses from the Tang Dynasty as she can do and that is where her desire and dedication to learn were the factors. Because after six years studying without anything other than the aid of the TV and a dictionary Quini began to make a five-hour round trip from her home in the mountain village of Galapagar to the center of Madrid.

Spain has 6 Confucius Institutes to teach students Chinese, while 40 universities and around 150 primary and secondary schools also teach the language.

Quini went to the San Isidro Institute in Madrid, where she met the Institute Director, Huang Ying, but there was a problem, although she had watched the classes on TV and studied with a dictionary: "I knew how to write and I knew the grammar, but I didn't know how to speak, while the majority of students could speak, but didn't know how to write."

That turned out to be an advantage, because rather than put Quini into a class with other students, Huang Ying gave her individual tuition for three years.

Since those beginnings, Quini has enjoyed many experiences through her studies, making friends, winning prizes and translating poetry.

She says the Pin Yin system has been invaluable, as otherwise it's almost impossible to use a dictionary with traditional Chinese characters and that, as well as her wit and determination has allowed her into the world of poets such as Li Bai and his beautiful poetry. Endit