MATT WILLIAMS from Ohio in the United States got his first taste of differences between life the East and West as a student in 2002, and a trip he repeated as a scholarship winner in 2004.

The time he spent in China changed his life a fair bit, he says.

Williams is now working at a Shenzhen law firm as an intern while he pursues his graduate degree in foreign service in Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

He is also doing some translation for the prestigious Qinghua University in Beijing, where he learnt Mandarin for four years.

"I have an early interest in studying China, choosing the country as a focus of study as a freshman in college."

However, at first, he says, learning Mandarin was difficult.

"When I first started learning Chinese, no one in my class could get the tones right," Williams said.

"We had to move our heads up and down in order to get near the right intonation. After several months of head movements, the tones began coming naturally," Williams said.

Williams understands the advantage of being bilingual and sees a future career in Shenzhen: "I am planning to finish my law degree, and work for an American law firm. I want to be a legal consultant in Shenzhen, Hong Kong and maybe Beijing, after I acquire the necessary licenses and experience in my home country," he said.

Editor: Wing