Just a few years ago, 19-year-old Alina, a student at the Kazakh state university, would have been learning English.
These days, she spends hours every week perfecting her Mandarin.
The reason is simple. China, she says, is where her future lies.
It's a vision shared by many across Central Asia, and it takes just a three hour drive from Kazakhstan's economic capital Almaty to find out why Chinese is so popular.
The Chinese-Kazakh border is the country's busiest frontier: lorries and cars cue for hours here, empty on the way to China, loaded with merchandise on the way back.
Hundreds of people and millions of dollars worth of goods cross the border every day.
Co-operation is on the rise, and the relationship is about to get even closer.
Free economic zone
"You have to use your imagination," Ibragim Toyshybekov, a local official, warned me as we embarked on a two-hour tour of an empty steppe spread between the two countries.
As we drove along next to the barbed wire, Ibragim described the ambitious project that he, along with his colleagues, is trying to implement.
The project will fill the empty steppe with shopping malls and business centres. It will allow a free flow of people and goods, and give a huge boost to the trade between China and the whole of Central Asia.
Kazakhstan hopes that the creation of the free economic zone with China will turn the country into a trade crossroad of global significance.
Beijing, on the other hand, says the zone will allow China to expand even further into both Asian and European markets.
The idea is backed personally by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, and like the president's every other project in Kazakhstan, among the officials at least, it enjoys unquestionable support.
"It's a brilliant idea; there will be everything here," Ibragim said as we drove right up to the Chinese side.
Beyond a line of red flags marking the border, Chinese guards in beige uniforms strolled and chatted away, relaxed and seemingly oblivious to the blistering sun.
"We'll have shopping malls, business centres, restaurants, hotels, anything your heart desires," Ibragim described.
But when asked about the common fear that China's growing economy may overpower its smaller neighbours, Ibragim laughed and said that he was not allowed to comment.
"Official policy here is to say that China is a very good neighbour, but unofficially there are plenty of fears," said Dostym Satpaev, the head of the regional Risk Assessment Group.
There is, Mr Satpaev says, a real worry in the region that China will simply become too much to handle, and that the growing number of goods and people it sends will pose a serious demographic and economic threat.
"When it comes to China, Kazakhstan is in a tricky position. We need to remember that China is our neighbour, a very ambitious neighbour and economically a very strong neighbour. So we need good relations with Beijing.
"But at the same time we should be wary about its increasing activity here and what consequences it may have," Mr Satpaev said.
'Geopolitical force'
The consequences are already apparent. Across Central Asia, markets are flooded with cheap goods, and full of Chinese traders.
There is no official data on how many Chinese are living and working here, but their number is visibly growing.
"Can you imagine what will happen if more of them come here?" Karlagash, a shopper from Almaty, said.
"Look at our vast plains, I am sure they can't wait to lay their hands on our land," she added.
| | We'll have shopping malls, business centres, restaurants, hotels, anything your heart desires Ibragim Toyshybekov, local official |
Beijing now has trade missions in every Central Asian country: it's investing in local enterprises and donating money to aid projects.
And by filling the markets with plastic fans and cheap DVD players, China is becoming an increasingly powerful player.
The region's growing reliance on Chinese goods is a major source of Beijing's new political leverage in the energy-rich region.
"China went from being a non-player in the 1990s to becoming a major geopolitical force, and its role is still growing," said Dostym Satpaev of the Risk Assessment Group.
"But the problem is that the only thing China is interested in are the region's minerals; oil, gas, natural resources. It does not want to open factories or invest into manufacturing goods here."
But still, for millions across this impoverished region, China is a lifeline.
Whether they like it or not, people rely on Chinese goods here, and where China's economic influence leads, its political might will follow.
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