全球汉语学习越来越狂热

Well, talking about the influence of Chinese culture, there has been a noticeable trend. That is the enthusiasm for learning Mandarin increasing dramatically around the world, be it by Western countries or China's neighbours. Let’s check out the wide array of initiatives to learn the Chinese language and engage with Chinese culture around the world.

Washington Dulles Airport. Parents are greeting their sixteen year old sons and daughters who have shown enthusiasm and aptitude for learning Chinese in different schools within the nation’s capital.

Student said, "There’s so much. I learned a lot about Chinese culture. I was immersed in it every day, had classes every day with it. I learned a ton about the language, lots of slang phrases. But I also learned a lot about myself and how I operate in a new environment."

Students have been learning Kung Fu, Tai Chi, traditional calligraphy and other cultural pursuits.

Language immersion classes were complemented with real-world challenges.

Student Dayna Haymen said, "I got so accustomed to it, I feel like I was bound to be there. I just connected to everything there. After a while I was just getting used to it, so I got connected to the metro rail system. We went to a couple of businesses and I realized that there are American businesses in China that I could work for also."

Experts say there are currently more than 120,000 students of Chinese in the US and that the uptake of new learners is increasingly rapidly.

Welcome to the Jembatan Budaya School. It literally means "a cultural bridge" and it is a pioneer of trilingual schools in Indonesia. It teaches the curriculum in English, Indonesian and Mandarin.

This is their physical exercise class. These kindergarten kids are Indonesians, but they all agreed being able to speak mandarin is as important as being able to speak English.

Putu Bahaduri, director of Jembatan Budaya School, said, "With the Chinese economy growing very fast, there will be a need for mandarin language."

Putu is a fifth generation Chinese Indonesian.. but growing up during the late president Soeharto, who ruled Indonesia for more than 3 decades, Chinese and Chinese culture were oppressed in the name of unity, making scenes like this in a school, illegal.

Only after the reform era that, the Chinese Indonesian have the freedom to express their culture

And now, schools like Jembatan Budaya receive abundant support both from the Indonesian government and the Chinese government

And the hope is that schools like Jembatan Budaya will not be an exception but will be the standard.

Indian schools are also taking Mandarin to their schools.

China has become India’s largest trading partner and the nation has decided to learn the new language of doing business.

Dr. Debashis Chaudhuri, associate fellow of Institute of Chinese Studies, said, “It will be a great help if students from the very beginning start learning Chinese. Because we have misunderstandings, and prejudices toward other countries and other people. To remove those prejudices, language learning is very important as language can be a big barrier.”

A number of Indian universities already have Mandarin courses, but learning it at schools is something new. One of the biggest challenges that India faces is the training of teachers.

Experts say this is because most teachers take up jobs as translators in business and tourism sectors as these are way more financially lucrative.

Luckily, India and China have signed a memorandum of understanding that proposes exchange of academic staff, teachers and students.

China’s economic surge over the past decade is the driving force behind the introduction of Mandarin in schools in India. With the economic world order changing, the knowledge of Mandarin could soon be regarded as one of the key prerequisites for Indians to establish themselves on the world scene.