Sinologists: Chinese language becomes more important globally

"The Chinese language has become more important globally, and China has also played a positive role in promoting its Chinese," said Canadian Ambassador to China Joseph Caron in Beijing on July 20 at the opening World Chinese Conference in Beijing.

Speaking highly of the great contribution made by China to maintain the diversity of the world's cultures and languages, Bouchenaki Mounir, assistant director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said the Chinese language is also an important part of the human heritage, and the human individuality as well.

The two-day conference, with the theme of "the Development of Chinese in a Multi-cultural World", attracted nearly 600 government officials, Sinologists and Chinese learners from 67 countries and regions.

Joel Bellassen, French chief school inspector on Chinese language teaching, said Chinese has been ranked among one of the world's popular languages of high practical value, with the country's opening up since 1980s. More and more school principals, parents and students have realized that the Chinese language had become a "trump card" for job hunting.

Statistics show that more than 30 million people are learning Chinese through various ways, and more than 2,500 universities in 100 countries are giving Chinese courses.

"China, as the motherland of the Chinese language, will adopt specific measures to boost Chinese teaching overseas, which includes facilitating the construction of Confucius Institutes, promoting HSK, and helping overseas schools to construct Chinese language library," said Ma Jianfei, deputy director of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOTCFL).

Mulatu Teshome, speaker of the Ethiopian House of the Federation, said the rapid and sustainable economic growth in China brought by its opening up has called for a more prominent role of its language on the world stage.

Gaston Caperton, governor of College Board in the United States, vowed to place Chinese course in the US universities, so that "students of the two sides could understand each other's culture, and jointly create a shared future."

According to him, an Advanced Placement (AP) course on Chinese language and culture will be officially launched in 2,500 US middle schools by 2006.

Source: Xinhua