Digital Solutions to the Problems of Chinese Students in St. Petersburg Multilingual Space

Abstract

Multilingual space is considered as one of the most important parts of the cultural environment that becomes a challenge for international students. The research ex-amined the multilingual space of St. Petersburg from the perspective of young people from China. Included observation, short interviews and analysis of Chi-nese freshmen essays serve as a source for the formation of a database of multi-lingual objects of everyday life of Chinese students and reveal language problems as the main challenges in the city multilingual space for a foreigner. The authors proposed an approach dividing the multilingual space of the city into space of communication and the "physical space of the language", existing vertically in three levels (city, university and personal areas). Expansion of the multilingual space at all levels due to the digital environment can significantly improve the language adaptation of students Although a coherent digital environment that provides the Chinese dimension to a multilingual environment does not yet exist. However, such elements as specially developed electronic guides and dictionaries, maps, augmented reality applications, communication platforms in social networks, etc. contribute to its future creation