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| People capable of Chinese short of demand globally |
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People who can speak Chinese still fall short of demand in non-Chinese-speaking countries, even if over 30 million people are learning Chinese overseas, delegates concluded the World Chinese Conference here Friday. The number of students in New York-based Beijing Chinese School(BSC) has increased to nearly 1,000 from eight years ago when the school opened, said Yong Li, a consultant to BCS, but the main problem now is a shortage of Chinese teachers. "It's so hard to get a teacher qualification in the United States that people who can use Chinese must have a master degree and pass an across-the-board exam involving arts, science, art and education," Li said. Thailand Princess Sirindhorn said, "At present, Thailand lacks Chinese teachers, so most Thais learn Chinese only through magazines, television, and the Internet." Over 30 million people are learning Chinese overseas, and over 2,500 universities in 100 countries teach Chinese, according to Ma Jianfei, deputy director of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOTCFL). Learning Chinese is indeed hot at a low level around the world,but at the higher level Chinese is still cold, said Peter Kupfer,director of School of Applied Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany. "The people capable of professional Chinese, especially translators, are not many. In Germany, there are no more than three or four Chinese simultaneous interpreters," he said. Since the 1990s, the demand for people proficient in Chinese with professional knowledge has been soaring, but the number fails to meet the demand all the time, Kupfer said, adding that the gap between demand and supply will further widen. Besides, many delegates say the enthusiasm of learning Chinese still stay at a low level. Kupfer said, most Germany entrepreneurs and scholars working in China understand Chinese, orhave learned some Chinese daily expressions but cannot communicatewith local people. In The Republic of Korea (ROK), Chinese has weighed in on job seeking and promotions, and has the momentum of prevailing over English as the dominant second language. "Most Koreans, however, are only learning simple and daily expressions of Chinese, which I call the 'market Chinese' or 'street Chinese,' and have much limitation in expressive capacity," said Professor H. J. Ahn with Dankook University in ROK. Advanced and professional Chinese and the Chinese culture are the destinations where Korean Chinese learners should go, he said. Source: Xinhua News July 22, 05 |
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