加拿大掀起“中文熱”

     Fluency in Chinese may mean more opportunities in Canada as more parents, students and educators recognize China's emergence, and their interest in studying the Chinese language increased.

     The mushrooming of interest is not only among Chinese Canadians, but people with different ethnic backgrounds, said language experts.

    In Hamilton, almost 200 students with different ethnic and professional backgrounds were the first students of the Confucius Institute at McMaster University starting June, 2009.

      Margherita Cina, who brought the first gold medal for Team Canada in last year's World Wushu Championship, is one of them. After almost one-year study, she and her classmates have learned several hundred Chinese characters through learning Pinyin -- the Chinese phonetic alphabet.

     "I have been exposed to Chinese culture for a long time. I like Chinese culture and this is the main reason I am learning Chinese, " Cina told Xinhua in her halting yet understandable Mandarin.

    "The number of registered students is much more than we expected,"Dr. Min Cheng, the Director of the Institute told Xinhua. The institute is dedicated to promoting Chinese culture and language.

    Interest in retaining the Chinese language is growing among Chinese-Canadians. In some messages posted online, parents share their personal experiences and lessons, and even upload Chinese language materials such as old Chinese poetries or children's rhymes and songs for others to download.

    "More and more Chinese parents come to me asking how to help their kids keep their home language while at the same time (not falling behind) in their English studies," said Terry Kelly, who is an early literacy specialist.

    Kelly has led workshops on how to retain home languages over the last eight years. She says she has known some parents who feared that introducing a second language to their children would hurt the children's ability to speak fluent English. But now things are changing, Kelly says, adding parents have realized importance of children retaining their   mother tongue.

       Her words are echoed by Paul Yeung, a communication specialist at Royal Bank of Canada. As a Chinese descendant himself, although he can't speak Mandarin, he sent his two-year old daughter to learn Chinese.

    "China's economy is booming now and the economic growth is faster than any country in the world. To master the Chinese language, it means opening more job opportunities. I want my daughter to be able to read and write Chinese."

      Nonetheless, not only Chinese descendants but also Canadians from other ethnic backgrounds realized the enormous benefits that will flow from learning Chinese, as China's importance in the world grows due to its rising political and economic power.