The Importance of Puntonghua (Chinese)

One of the many items on my New Year’s Resolutions list is to learn more Chinese or Putonghua as it is called in its native tongue. I realise this may seem rather odd after having just left Hong Kong after eight years but it is something that I am now more determined than ever to achieve. As I do not have a permanent job I am determined to use what time I may have in order to better myself in a number of different ways both in my professional and personal life. Studying Chinese comes under the personal development as it is something that I have always wanted to accomplish.

For me Chinese is a language that is vital in the world today. One can open up so many avenues for themselves if they have a mastery of this dialect. On my first trip to China in January 1998 the group of educators I was travelling with had a meeting with Australia’s Consul-General in Shanghai. One piece of advice that he left us with was to “tell your student’s to learn Chinese”.

One of my previous schools I taught in had students in primary school learn French every second day. Whilst I believe it is healthy to learn any language, I was of the belief that Australian children are missing a golden opportunity if they are not studying an Asian language preferably Chinese, Japanese or Indonesian. It has been refreshing to see some Australian federal governments over the past 20 years focus heavily on Asia as they have seen the importance of establishing links to the continent. I was most impressed to have a Prime Minister in Kevin Rudd who was fluent in Chinese.

During my eight years in Hong Kong it was with interest that I viewed my school’s approach to Chinese. The powers that be at the school rightly understood the importance of studying the mother tongue of the mainland (it was of little use studying Cantonese, the language of Hong Kong, as it is only spoken in one city in the world). Unfortunately many students and some parents did not see the value in these Chinese lessons. All students in the primary school did Chinese lessons each day with classes being streamed from Year 2 onwards into background and non-background Chinese speaking students. Often it was the when the classes were split that issues arose with the non-background students. Some students became quickly disillusioned with the subject and often questioned the value of learning Chinese. Sadly some parents shared this belief and did not show any interest in the results and behaviour of their child in Chinese classes. This is a greatly misguided attitude. Often I would tell my students how lucky they were to be learning Chinese and to embrace each lesson.

The Year 4 students each year would travel to Shenzhen on a school trip whilst the Year 6 students would go to Beijing. One of the purposes of this trip was or the students to practice their Chinese language skills. One of the problems in a major world city like Beijing now is that nearly everywhere the students travelled in the city was that the locals they came across spoke highly passable English and there weren’t many opportunities to speak Chinese. I myself was amazed a few years ago in Shanghai when buying something at a 7-11 when I was asked by the girl behind the counter “Would I like a plastic bag for that?” in perfect English. Don’t worry though, for every local Chinese English speaker there would be thousands more who have no knowledge of the language.

One amusing anecdote is of a student of Australian background who during his 7 years in primary school in Hong Kong showed little interest, made little effort and behaved badly in Chinese classes. He was sent to boarding school in Australia in Year 7 where they studied Chinese. Suddenly he was thrust to the top of the class as he was the only student who had any background in the language. He applied himself fully and shone in all lessons as he took great pride in his ability. This story was shared to me by his parents when I came across them in Hong Kong. I in turn shared this story with the particular student’s Chinese teacher at his Hong Kong school who felt like tearing their hair out in frustration after battling with him for so long.

A more positive story was of another Australian girl who had the first 9 years of her education in Hong Kong before returning to Australia. I ran into her father who told me that she was continuing with the study of Chinese at her school in Sydney and each January she was going to Beijing to attend 2 weeks of intensive language lessons. Her plan when she finished school was to do a double major of Chinese/Economics at university. This was incredibly smart as she will open a world of opportunity for herself upon completion of her degrees.  This point I cannot reinforce enough. If you are a westerner who can speak Chinese there are so many doors and pathways that will open up for you.

Maybe I am too old for these pathways to open I just think it will be mighty cool to have a knowledge of Chinese. Whilst I can speak very basic, rudimentary Chinese there is so much more that I can master so I look forward to throwing myself headlong into this challenge.

Zai jian!