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Over 30 million
people learn Chinese in world as foreign language
More than 30 million people in the world are learning Chinese as a
foreign language through various ways, said a Chinese-language
teaching official.
"With China's rapidly
growing economy and increasing international exchanges, value of the
Chinese language is rising constantly," Ma Jianfei, deputy director
of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOTCFL),
said here Tuesday.
"Learning Chinese is gaining a tool to engage in friendly exchanges
with 1.3 billion Chinese people and the key to enter an important
and vast market in the world," he said on the eve of the World
Chinese Conference.
According to the office, more than 2,500 universities in 100
countries are teaching Chinese as a foreign language.
The Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and France boast the biggest
number of learners of Chinese as a foreign language in the world,
judging from the number of participants in the Chinese language
proficiency test.
Ma said in the United States, the number of Chinese language
learners is growing the fastest compared with learners of other
foreign languages.
Of the more than 3,000 universities in the United States, nearly 800
have opened Chinese language courses. Thanks to joint programs
between the two countries, Chinese language courses will also enter
large numbers of primary and high schools in the United States, he
said.
In Asia, according to the office, there are 1.6 million Chinese
language learners in the areas of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations. Chinese language courses are offered in nearly 200
universities in the ROK. There are 2 million learners of Chinese
language in Japan.
Chinese language is most popular in France among European countries,
with the language also gaining popularity in other European
countries.
The number of Chinese language learners is growing fast in Africa. A
major TV company in South Africa has began to broadcast Chinese
language teaching program to the whole country.
Nearly 600 people, including 353 overseas delegates from 66
countries or regions, will attend the World Chinese Conference to be
opened in Beijing on Wednesday. It is the first international
conference on Chinese language ever held in China.
Source: Xinhua, July 20, 2005
BEIJING, July
21st -- The first World Chinese Conference, for Chinese speakers
from around the globe, opened in the Great Hall of the People in
Beijing yesterday.
"Chinese has become a real international language, and it has shown
great practical value," said Joel Bellassen, inspector-general of
Chinese teaching for the French Ministry of Education.
According to Bellassen, when the last school year began in 2004, the
number of secondary school students taking Chinese lessons increased
by 22 per cent in France. Some areas even witnessed a growth of 35
per cent.
"Learning Chinese has become a key to good jobs," said Bellassen.
Even an advertisement on the streets of Paris says: "Go and learn
Chinese! That means opportunities and fortune in the coming dozens
of years."
The language fever is not confined to France. More than 30 million
people outside China are learning the language, and about 2,500
overseas colleges in 100 countries offer courses.
"Our survey shows there already exists a strong interest in learning
Chinese among high school students in the United States," said
Gaston Caperton, president of the US College Board.
"To learn Chinese fosters a deeper mutual understanding among our
next generations who create and share the same future."
In Canada, Chinese has become the third most spoken language, after
English and French, according to Joseph Caron, Canadian ambassador
to China.
"China has been a key player in the global economy with growing
importance," Caron said. "The language is an important means of
fostering communication within the context of global multi-culturalism."
Representatives from Ethiopia and Singapore also stressed the
popularity of Chinese in their countries.
China is doing its part by seeking closer co-operation with
educational institutes overseas.
"China has an unshirkable responsibility for language teaching
overseas," said State Councillor Chen Zhili, addressing the opening
of the conference.
With the development of Chinese in a multi-cultural world as its
theme, the three-day conference has attracted 342 representatives
from more than 70 countries as well as 175 delegates from China
itself.
The conference will discuss topics such as Chinese language
development policies in countries around the world, the improvement
of the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) and theoretical studies on
teaching Chinese as a foreign language.
Source: China Daily, July 21, 2005
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