Growing up right outside of Washington, D.C., John Koenig’s passion for Chinese began in high school and has continued throughout his time at Wake Forest University. Fascinated by the Chinese language and culture, Koenig knew he was going to pursue a degree in Chinese from the very beginning of his college career.
Koenig joined the Chinese Culture Club (CCC) in the fall of his sophomore year and served as its president for two years. In addition to his studies in Chinese, Koenig is also a politics and international affairs major.
Koenig’s studies also landed him the opportunity to live and study in East Asia. He studied abroad twice in his career as an undergraduate — once in the summer of 2023 at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, and again in the 2023 fall semester at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. A true world traveler, Koenig is a massive proponent of studying abroad, and he emphasized the importance of cultural immersion in the language learning process.
“[It’s] the only way to really learn a language,” he said.
Another important aspect of studying a language, according to Koenig, is having patience in your studies, as learning a new language can take a long time for many students.
“You can’t learn an entire language overnight,” he said.
Studying Chinese has allowed Koenig to communicate and connect with people of all backgrounds and explore different destinations around East Asia.
Of course, Koenig could not have found such success without the support of the Chinese department at Wake Forest University. Koenig would like to thank all of his fantastic and passionate professors who have shaped him into the student that he is today.
