NovelApexChapter 383
This year's foreign language showcase was truly a dazzling display-there were kids performing in just about
every language you could imagine.
Sof the children even chose rare, obscure tongues that barely anyone had heard of.
Still, German, French, and Spanish remained the perennial favorites among the crowd.
Language competitions are a different beast compared to the talent-heavy world of music contests. With enough
tand sheer determination, even rote memorization could earn you a decent score.
If music competitions are a test of raw talent, then language contests are all about hard work.
Stella had to admit, the activities and courses organized by this elite private preschool were genuinely
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtimpressive. No wonder all these high-powered families fought to get their kids enrolled here.
That said, no matter how much effort went into preparing for a language competition, these children were still so
young. Skill levels varied wildly, even among those who had clearly practiced. And then there was the stage
fright- nerves could easily wipe a carefully memorized vocabulary list right out of a child's mind.
To make matters worse, sof the parents coaching their kids didn't have the best pronunciation themselves.
As a result, even the highest score among the earlier groups barely scraped an eighty-five.
Abby leaned over and whispered, "Star, do they always have this many judges for every event? Wow, more than
half of them are foreigners!"
She made a quick headcount-there were over twenty judges sitting at the long table. Only five of them were
actually responsible for scoring, but even those five were expected to listen to the opinions of the rest.
The last tStella had accompanied Marvin to a music contest, there were just as many judges, all of them
professionals in their field.
No doubt about it-this school had resources to spare.
Stella nodded slightly. By the look of it, these judges were all language experts. Seven specialized in the
rarer languages, which made sense-you couldn't have unqualified people handing out scores.
Soon, it was Keen and Rachel's turn to perform.
Just as Stella had expected, Keen was solid and steady, not a single misstep. Rachel, performing alongside him,
didn't let him down; her pronunciation was crisp and clear, every word precise.
These competitions could be deceptively simple-or unexpectedly difficult. After all, every region in the country
had its own accent, which was why there was a "standard" language to unify things. It was the same
everywhere: locals always thought foreign accents sounded a bit odd, and foreigners felt the sway in
reverse.
No matter how perfect your test scores, it could be hard to understand native speakers overseas if your
pronunciation or intonation was off. Most people cared less about perfect grammar and more about how you
actually sounded.
Stella remembered her days at Solmaris, watching privileged classmates mock the accents of students from
other countries.
But today, Rachel and Keen's flawless delivery and seamless recitation earned them a near-perfect score of
ninety-eight. The only points they lost were for Keen's slightly stiff stage presence—he'd never studied acting
before, and this was more than just reading lines; they had to perform a short tic scene together.
The competition rolled on, and a few other pairs did stand out, but none cclose-ninety-two was the next
highest score, still far behind Rachel and Keen.
Mr. Burton stroked his beard and said, "Rachel's really something, isn't she? No one's topped their score yet."
Abby grinned. “Let her enjoy the spotlight for a few more minutes. She's about to get knocked off her throne."
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