{"id":317102,"date":"2018-05-11T13:13:35","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T17:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=317102"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:19:15","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T13:19:15","slug":"cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/","title":{"rendered":"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Three questions
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What was your favorite course?<\/strong> \u201cThe course that was most beneficial and inspirational to me was Modern China with history professor Dahpon Ho. In class he often used mixed media, playing songs or showing movie clips. He would also bring in props like the dadao, which is the big sword used during the Boxer Rebellion. The course basically shattered all of my preconceived notions about China and gave me a new appreciation for Chinese culture and history.\u201d<\/p>\n

How have you changed since your first year?<\/strong> \u201cI know more about myself and the things I\u2019m interested in\u2014languages, history, culture. I\u2019ve learned to better deal with how to approach homework and challenges. Working with the Fellowships Office has taught me to write better.\u201d<\/p>\n

How will you remember your time here?<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019ll probably most remember the opportunities to try different things. Because of the cluster system, you have a lot more options and possibilities. In addition to my two majors, I have an international relations minor, and I\u2019ve gotten to take courses covering a range of topics, from voice to environmental science.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Making their mark: This is one in a series<\/a> of profiles celebrating members of Rochester\u2019s graduating class of 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cherish Blackman \u201918 has long had an interest in\u2014and knack for\u2014foreign languages. In sixth grade, she started teaching herself Japanese using online resources. In middle school, she began studying Spanish. When it came time to apply to colleges, Blackman searched for schools that offered Asian languages as well as Russian. \u201cI wanted to study languages that weren\u2019t very close to English,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Blackman, a Rochester native and self-described homebody, she didn\u2019t have to look far. The University offers classes in 18 different languages, including three Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and two Slavic languages (Russian and Polish).<\/p>\n

As a first-year student at Rochester, she started learning Mandarin Chinese and Russian while continuing with Spanish. In fact, Blackman initially intended to double major in Spanish and international relations but found herself more interested in language and history than in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that Russian and Chinese are critical-need foreign languages,\u201d she says. (Critical languages are ones that the U.S. government considers vital to national security and prosperity). She reasoned that majoring in Russian will help her r\u00e9sum\u00e9 stand out when she applies for graduate school or jobs. And since the University doesn\u2019t yet offer a Chinese major, she opted for a second major in East Asian studies.<\/p>\n

Blackman believes being multilingual opens up new ways to express oneself while connecting with others. Case in point: she is coauthoring a research paper with Professor Ting Huang about the first eight chapters of Journey to the West<\/em>, a 16th-century work that is one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. \u201cMost of the available research is in Chinese,\u201d she says, which gives Blackman and her professor an opportunity to provide new insights\u2014in both Chinese and English\u2014on the novel\u2019s prologue.<\/p>\n

The research experience, which combines her love of languages with creative expression, has Blackman considering pursuing a doctoral degree in comparative literature. In the meantime, she is an ardent supporter of creativity and arts in her hometown. In 2017, she piloted a weekly summer art and creative writing program at Aenon Baptist Church in Rochester. She intends to hold the program again this summer before heading to China in the fall for a year.<\/p>\n

The exact details of her upcoming year in China on a Chinese Government Scholarship, are still in flux. Ideally, though, she hopes to be placed at Harbin Institute of Technology in the northeastern region of China, bordering Russia. That proximity makes it one of the best universities in China for learning Russian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to go to China only to forget Russian,\u201d Blackman says. \u201cWhich reminds me: I\u2019ll have to bring a Spanish book with me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rochester native Cherish Blackman has always had a knack for languages. \u201cI wanted to study languages that weren\u2019t very close to English,\u201d she recalls. The double major in Russian and East Asian studies is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":317112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[21642,22172,16072],"class_list":["post-317102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-class-of-2018","tag-department-of-modern-languages-and-cultures","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA local polyglot prepares to globe-trot<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A double major in Russian and East Asian studies, Cherish Blackman is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A double major in Russian and East Asian studies, Cherish Blackman is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-11T17:13:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-15T13:19:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cherish_blackman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sofia Tokar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sofia Tokar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sofia Tokar\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e2aecfd2d62aca26a6a82e0f0153199\"},\"headline\":\"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-11T17:13:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-15T13:19:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":664,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/cherish_blackman.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Class of 2018\",\"Department of Modern Languages and Cultures\",\"School of Arts and Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Campus & Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/\",\"name\":\"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/cherish_blackman.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-11T17:13:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-15T13:19:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e2aecfd2d62aca26a6a82e0f0153199\"},\"description\":\"A double major in Russian and East Asian studies, Cherish Blackman is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/cherish_blackman.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/cherish_blackman.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Cherish Blackman's research experience at the University of Rochester, which combines her love of languages with creative expression, has her considering pursuing a doctoral degree in comparative literature. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"University of Rochester\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e2aecfd2d62aca26a6a82e0f0153199\",\"name\":\"Sofia Tokar\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/stokar\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot","description":"A double major in Russian and East Asian studies, Cherish Blackman is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot","og_description":"A double major in Russian and East Asian studies, Cherish Blackman is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2018-05-11T17:13:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-05-15T13:19:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cherish_blackman.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sofia Tokar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sofia Tokar","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/"},"author":{"name":"Sofia Tokar","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/6e2aecfd2d62aca26a6a82e0f0153199"},"headline":"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot","datePublished":"2018-05-11T17:13:35+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-15T13:19:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/"},"wordCount":664,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cherish_blackman.jpg","keywords":["Class of 2018","Department of Modern Languages and Cultures","School of Arts and Sciences"],"articleSection":["Campus & Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/","name":"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cherish_blackman.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-11T17:13:35+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-15T13:19:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/6e2aecfd2d62aca26a6a82e0f0153199"},"description":"A double major in Russian and East Asian studies, Cherish Blackman is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cherish_blackman.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cherish_blackman.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"Cherish Blackman's research experience at the University of Rochester, which combines her love of languages with creative expression, has her considering pursuing a doctoral degree in comparative literature. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/cherish-blackman-a-local-polyglot-preparing-to-globe-trot-317102\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A local polyglot prepares to globe-trot"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/6e2aecfd2d62aca26a6a82e0f0153199","name":"Sofia Tokar","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/stokar\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317102"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320172,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317102\/revisions\/320172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}