Malaysia to set up its first Confucius Institute

China and Malaysia signed an agreement here Wednesday to establish the first Confucius Institute in Malaysia.

    Ghauth Jasmon, vice president of University of Malaya (UM), and Ma Jianfei, deputy director-general of the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), signed the agreement on setting up the institute at the university.

    Hao Ping, Chinese Vice Minister of Education, and Hou Kok Chung, Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Higher Education, also attended the signing ceremony.

    As the exchanges between China and Malaysia has been increasingly intensified, more and more Malaysians are interested in learning the Chinese language and many Chinese students are also interested in learning the Malay language, Hao said.

    The establishment of the Confucius Institute will have a positive influence on the Chinese-language learning in Malaysia and further enhance the understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries, he said.

    Hao also said the renowned University of Malaya has vast contacts with various universities in China and it has contributed significantly to the friendly exchanges between Malaysia and China.

    Hou said the university has close academic and research cooperation with some outstanding universities in China, including the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU).

    Hou said in a speech that the Confucius Institute is a non-profit public institute which promotes the Chinese language to everyone, who are interested in it, in an organized and proper manner.

    ”I am confident that the Confucius Institute will become a benchmark for the teaching of Chinese language in Malaysia,” he said.

    The establishment of the institute will provide a new platform for Malaysians with different ethic backgrounds to learn Chinese, Hou noted.

    Jasmon also noted that the collaboration was another milestone in Malaysia-China’s strong relationship.

    China’s Ambassador to Malaysia Liu Jian was present at the signing ceremony.

    According to the agreement, UM and BFSU will jointly manage the Confucius Institute that will be set up at the City Campus of UM.

Confucius Institute in Nepal marks 2nd anniversary

Nepali Chinese-learning students gathered in Kathmandu University on Saturday to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the Confucius Institute at the university.

    The enthusiastic Nepali students, eager to learn Chinese, attended the Confucius Institute for cultural exchange with the neighboring country.

    ”Chinese is one of the important languages spoken by a large number of people in the world, so to understand such a language is worthwhile,” said Rajiv Ranjit, a student told Xinhua during the celebration.

    Aware of language barrier between two countries amid diverse opportunities, most of the students were attracted by the Confucius Institute.

    ”To be able to communicate with Chinese people is beneficial for cultural exchange,” said Ranjit who has done Master’s Degree in Anthropology from the Nepali University.

    Not only students like Ranjit, more than 600 regular students and 30 teachers have been trained at different levels, including business programs, tour guide programs, professor programs, university programs and 16 Chinese-interest programs, which involved 600 students in middle schools and primary schools.

    Confucius Institute was established at the university with an agreement signed between the university authority and the Office of Chinese Language Council International in February 2007 with the objectives of strengthening educational cooperation between Nepal and China, supporting and promoting the development between the two peoples.

    ”Students enjoy learning Chinese. Whenever we enter college, students run toward us and say ‘Ni Hao’,” said Yin Wei, a volunteer Chinese teacher who came to Nepal in April this year.

    Along with Yin, another 30 volunteer Chinese teachers have worked in Nepal with the purpose of teaching Nepalese students in various places such as Kathmandu, Pokhara and Biratnagar.

    ”Some of them are teaching in high schools, some in primary schools and some others teaching adults in various institutes,” Yin said.

    ”I like Nepali students very much, they are very warm-hearted,” she added.

    Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Qiu Guohong said, “Over the past two years, the directors and teachers from both China and Nepal have made positive and valuable contributions for the healthy growth of the Institute.”

    According to him, Institute has turned into a venue for Nepalese people to study Chinese language and understand Chinese culture, a platform for China-Nepal cultural exchanges and bridge to enhance China-Nepal friendship and cooperation.

    The teachers at the Confucius Institute offered Chinese courses and held cultural activities in local communities.

Germans find fun in speaking Chinese tongue twister

HAMBURG, June 13 (Xinhua) — “Four is four, ten is ten, 14 is 14, 40 is 40…”, which pronounced in Chinese like “si shi si, shi shi shi, shisi shi shisi, sishi shi sishi,” is a widely-known tongue twister in China, and a few locals in Germany’s Hamburg have found fun in articulating it.

    On Friday evening in a Chinese Teahouse in downtown Hamburg, a tongue twister contest was staged, alluring dozens of local people to participate in the language game.

    The contest, hosted by the Confucius Institute of the Hamburg University, is part of the Chinese Festival presented by the Chinese Teahouse, a mini replica of the Yuyuan Garden, an architectural masterpiece located in east China’s Shanghai municipality.

    Five pairs were selected randomly from the audiences, and in each pair, one, from Germany, was to speak a Chinese tongue twister, while the other, from China, to speak a German one.

    Later on, five versions of “si shi si” were heard in the traditional Chinese-style hall, igniting waves of laughter and applause from the audience.

    Ulla Ruckpaul, a clerk from a local company, was one contestant at Friday’s language game. Although she had never spoken a single Chinese word, the Chinese tongue twister intrigued the German lady.

    ”I think the Chinese intonations are very interesting. I’ve never heard about it before, I’ve never practiced it before,” she told Xinhua.

    In the process of the interview, Ruckpaul could not help speaking the tongue twister again, “si shi si….”

    Prior to the contest, Dr. Geog Winter, a tongue twister writer for the German language, briefed the audience on how he wrote the German twisters, while Avid Storch and Zhang Wei from the Confucius

    Institute of The Hamburg University taught the audience how to learn the Chinese intonations and the Chinese tongue twister.

    The audience, in high spirits, followed Storch and Zhang in learning the Chinese intonations.

    Dr. Carsten Krause, Dean of the Confucius Institute of The Hamburg University, told Xinhua that such a contest would encourage local people to learn the Chinese language.

    ”Some have learned a little bit Chinese from the contest,” he said.

    ”I find they are willing to participate, that’s good. Although their pronunciation is not good, they have done well,” he added.

    Krause himself started learning Chinese 21 years ago when only few Germans were interested in learning the oriental language.

    But now learning Chinese has become quite popular in Germany, which is China’s biggest trading partner in Europe and boasts frequent contacts and exchanges with China.

    At present, a total of nine Confucius institutes have been set up across Germany, and Chinese-learning classes have been opened in as many as 80 German universities and 300 high schools. Official statistics show that at least 30,000 Germans are learning Chinese.

    ”The tongue twister contest can better increase the communication between the Chinese and German people,” Krause said.

    ”By learning Chinese tongue twisters, Germans may think it is not difficult to speak Chinese, and they may also think it is interesting to learn it,” he added.

Thailand welcome Mandarin-teaching volunteers from China

BANGKOK, May 24 (Xinhua) — The Thai capital saw a welcoming ceremony Sunday for this year’s first batch of Mandarin-teaching volunteers from China, and the total number of the Chinese teachers to Thailand in 2009, after another two batches arrived days later, will amount to 1,028.

    ”Upon the request and invitation of Thai Ministry of Education, the number of volunteer teachers sent by the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) to Thailand this year will surpass 1,000 for the first time,” Chinese ambassador to Thailand Guan Mu said on the ceremony.

    Winai Rodjay, Deputy Secretary-General for the Basic Education Commission Office of Thai Education Ministry, extended his welcome to the volunteers as well as his thanks to Hanban, the Chinese body that is in charge of the Program of Program for International Chinese Language Teachers launched in 2003.

    According to the organization, this is the 8th batch also the largest batch of Chinese volunteer teachers ever sent to Thailand since 2003. The volunteers’ overall qualities and teaching abilitywere greatly improved through a strict selection process after their application. They also received special training from Hanban on service awareness, foreign etiquette and how to improve survivability and adaptability.

    As Guan put it in his speech, a “wave of Mandarin learning” is burgeoning in Thailand, with 1,105 schools and colleges across the kingdom having introduced Mandarin courses and a total of 400,000 Thai people studying the language in diversified ways.

    Winai attributed the “significant enhancement” of Chinese-language-education capacity in Thai state-run schools, especially during the last five to six years, to the support of Chinese volunteer teacher program. Chinese language education will play a key role in the social, economic, cultural exchange and friendship between Thailand and China, he said.

    Hanban Deputy Director Wang Yongli, who also attended the event, encouraged these young volunteers to overcome all the difficulties they might encounter in work and life overseas and to devote themselves to their teaching careers.

    Hanban, a non-governmental and non-profit organization, is affiliated to the Ministry of Education of China and committed to making the Chinese language and culture teaching resources and services available to the world.

Ukraine holds Chinese langauge contest

 KIEV, May 8 (Xinhua) — Ukrainian girl Lera, who is a senior student at the Lugansk University, beat all the other seven competitors from the country’s renowned universities in a Chinese language contest here on Friday.

    She impressed the judges and the audience with her eloquent Chinese speech “Wisdom in Tea” and outstanding performance of traditional Chinese sword-play at the 8th “Chinese Bridge” language contest in Ukraine, which was held at the Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev.

    The education department of the Chinese embassy in Ukraine sponsored the activities to select a Ukrainian winner for the international Chinese language contest, which has been held by China’s Office of Chinese Language Teaching Abroad each year since2002.

    Lera will join winners from other countries in the semi-final of the “Chinese Bridge” contest in July in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan Province.

    The theme of this year’s event in Ukraine is “Chinese learning brings you fun and hope.”

    ”Language is a tool for communication and the medium to carry forward a nation’s cultural heritage. More Ukrainians became interested in learning Chinese to know more about our country as China developed rapidly,” said Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Zhou Li.

    ”The cooperation between China and Ukraine in politics, economy, trade, education and culture developed smoothly in recent years,” Zhou said, “I believe the competition will provide Ukrainian students with a chance to reveal their talent.”

    He said the contest has become an important platform for college students around the world to learn Chinese and to know more about China.

    Statistics showed that more than 30 million people outside China are learning the Chinese language.

Chicago is America’s leader in teaching Chinese language

Robert A. Davis Jr. leaned back in his chair in the big room that is the Confucius Institute in Chicago and laughed. “I think we are proving that if I can learn Chinese anyone can.”

Davis, a tall, affable educator, is director of the Confucius Institute located in downtown of Chicago. He also is the manager of World Language & International Studies, the Office of Language & Cultural Education, for Chicago Public Schools.

With a population of about 3 million, Chicago is the third largest city in the United States, with some 250,000 students in its public schools. But with more than 12,000 of those students in 43 schools, Davis, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and educators in Chicago and China, have created the largest program in America for teaching Chinese.

As a testimony to its importance in teaching Chinese, Chicago will be the host on April 30-May 2 to America’s 2009 National Chinese Language Conference. It is organized by the Asia Society and the College Board, two leading institutions promoting education. One highlight of the conference will be visits to classes in the Chicago schools to see how students are taught. The conference will be attended by Chinese educators, including delegations from the Chicago schools’ partners in the Confucius Institute, the Office of Chinese Language Council International (the “Hanban”) and Shanghai’s East China Normal University.

Chicago pioneered teaching Chinese in 1999, beginning with three schools. Chicago Mayor Daley noted that it was important to understand the role that China plays in the changing global economy. He has observed that “Chinese is as important as English as a language of commerce.”

Davis was seated at a table in the Confucius Institute, explaining to journalists how the Chicago program had grown to become a model for schools elsewhere. The institute is housed in Walter Payton College Preparatory High School deep in the heart of the city. The institute walls were festooned with Chinese art, there were rows of tables with computers for accessing teaching materials and around the walls were shelves holding more than 5,000 books in Chinese and DVDs, study materials for educators and students of all ages.

“The institute opened in May, 2006,” Davis said, “and here we have workshops for teachers and parents, for courses on introductory Chinese for travel and business. The institute is a resource for the City’s teachers, parents and students.”

Davis said the institute’s partners were very supportive of the Chicago program. “Hanban encourages us to think big, and East China Normal University takes about 20 of our students each summer for six weeks intensive study and exposure to China’s culture.”

After the institute opened, Mayor Daley led a delegation to China to further relationships. “The mayor has visited China three times and explains to everyone how important it is that our students understand the Chinese language and culture. Shanghai is a Sister City to Chicago and its Mayor Han Zheng and Mayor Daley worked out a program where we recruit teachers from Shanghai to teach Chinese here.

“We have great teachers,” Davis said. “They are among the best in the world.” The institute is a resource for teacher. One of them, Wenya Lu, has taught Chinese in Chicago schools for nine years. She notes that “students are very committed,” and that they like to learn by seeking opportunities to discuss lessons with teachers and “to have fun.”

In her classroom, some 20 students from different ethnic backgrounds sat attentively at their desks as she drilled them in pronunciation, sometimes laughing at themselves as they spoke a wrong vowel. But when they were asked to draw characters on the white board the tall 16-year-old student Jordon Sawyer, who was wearing a shirt with names of the Grateful Dead musical group written in English and Chinese, gave careful attention and smiled broadly when Lu nodded her approval that he had written well, and the other students nodded at him with smiles.

More schools and students every year are seeking to be part of the Chinese language program, he said. “Students are interested in the culture. They were delighted with the Olympics, they know that China is a superpower, and their parents see that China is important for the students’ future.”

As Davis spoke to the journalists, the 12,000 Chicago students studying Chinese were getting ready to vie for scholarships provided by the US Department of State that would take them to China for six weeks study this summer. Living in China, Davis said, would “change their lives.”

“We want them to study for 10 years or so, and with their Chinese facility, get accepted at universities and find opportunities in business,” Davis said.