瑞典计划未来在所有小学教中文

The Swedish government wants to provide Chinese as a choice for a second foreign language for pupils in all primary and secondary schools. Anders Andren, spokesman of the Swedish Education Minister, explains why they want to put the Chinese language in the curriculum.

"The three languages you can learn today are all European languages; it's a bit old to learn only European languages. Now when you see what's happening in Asia and what's happening in China, these will be very important trading partners and economic partners of Sweden in the future. So to learn Asian languages and China being the largest country with the largest population, also with an astonishing economic growth, China will be very important for Sweden in the future. As we say in Sweden, now even Volvo is owned by the Chinese, so it is important for us as a small country to be able to trade and be able to compete globally by having well-educated people in Sweden."

In Sweden, with Swedish as the native language, all pupils must begin to study English as a foreign language when they are in the third year of the primary school, which lasts for nine years. The secondary school lasts for three years.

When the pupils enter their sixth year of primary school, they can choose a second foreign language: French, German or Spanish. Now they want Chinese alongside them.

"We are hoping to be the first European country to have Chinese in the regular school system."

Andren says now the ministry has begun research on how to carry out this plan. According to previous experiences, it is estimated that the plan will take 10 years to get into place. Quite a few schools in Sweden already offer Chinese, which was more or less stimulated by the Nordic Confucius School in Stockholm.

Sweden has two Confucius Schools to meet the high demand of Chinese learners. Getting Chinese on the curriculum of all their schools is expected to happen by 2020.

Chen Xuefei, CRI news, Stockholm.