《爱城日报》读者来信：我看BC省的孔子学院（翻译稿）

普通话移民协会

《爱城日报》读者来信：我看BC省的孔子学院（翻译稿）
Peter Wong
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Published: Sunday, July 16, 2006 @ The Edmonton Journal

我是爱城中文双语教育协会的会长，同时也是有两个孩子都在学中文的家长，看到这股中国境外的中文热我感到非常欣慰。
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' E2 G1 j4 o7 A( M为在爱城公立教育系统中建立和发展中文双语教育项目，我们家长协会已经付出了整整24年的努力。
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在该项目的创办初期，虽然那时爱城的中文“普通话”还是粤语一统天下，但创办者们已经预见到中国官方语言----普通话，将会成为一种全球性的商务用语。
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  a, z; ^$ r) {# x% `BC省孔子学院的落成，再次验证了爱城中文双语教育项目的成功。

# h" f8 Z/ f! ]爱城中文双语教学项目的注册学生多达1800名，是北美之最，也很可能是世界之最。

% B6 Y+ h9 j& [正在培养着如此之多能说中文的加拿大“大使”的爱城，在对华关系中已呈执牛耳之势。

我们这些学习中文的孩子，以及那些中文双语项目的毕业生们，一技在手，良机无限。

+ S( |) s! P2 R! [7 r尽管我们的孩子生在加国，长在加国，接受并吸收着加国文化，但他们也会说中国话，说得像中国人那样。
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Re: "'China wants to teach the world to speak Mandarin," The Journal, July 11.
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. p: A0 Y% x; i4 YAs the president of the Edmonton Chinese Bilingual Education Association (ECBEA)and parent of two children learning Mandarin, it is gratifying to see the promotion of the Mandarin language outside of China.
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. M% L9 x1 z# s) A6 ROur parent association was instrumental in implementing and maintaining the Mandarin bilingual program in Edmonton Public Schools over the past 24 years.

4 n* N! M% I/ N  q/ U8 SEven though the common dialect in Edmonton at that time was Cantonese, the founders of the program had the foresight to see Mandarin as an emerging global business language.

The establishment of the Confucius Institute in British Columbia only reaffirms the success of the Mandarin program in Edmonton.

" R/ _8 A9 A9 k; e5 ]9 rWith an enrolment of 1,800 students, the Edmonton Mandarin bilingual program is one of the largest in North America and quite possibly in the world, outside of China.

Edmonton is in a great position to become a leader in relations with China with its large base of Mandarin-speaking Canadian "ambassadors" being educated here.
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( a* ~9 Q) H0 q6 d0 b# ]3 \Our children who are in the program and others who have already graduated will have numerous opportunities open to them due to their knowledge of Mandarin.

- w+ \' ^1 Y+ i& `# l) QEven though our children are born and raised here and have assimilated and embraced Canadian culture, they can "speak Chinese like Chinese people do."
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中国想教世界学说中国话
----建立孔子学院，传播中华文化
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. G! t% e, R! S( I& i9 X) X$ qPublished: Tuesday, July 11, 2006  @ The Edmonton Journal

文章摘译：第一个孔子学院于2004年建成于平壤，目前全球范围内已有54座。按照计划，还有70座孔子学院将陆续上马，以实现中国政府制定的2010年教会1亿外国学生说中文的宏伟目标。

加拿大第一所孔子学院今年初于BC开张，中国在加拿大包括爱城在内的五个城市设有汉语水平考试考点。受阿省邀请，中国政府派出的语言顾问在阿省教育厅常年现场工作。

China wants to teach the world to speak Mandarin
2 S" W, \& m5 k5 r5 r4 ?6 u5 dConfucius Institutes set up to spread language, culture around globe
  
Aileen McCabe, CanWest News Service
9 W" d- G$ P3 W! |* k5 B" ?3 t/ ^Published: Tuesday, July 11, 2006
. l" R$ |/ v5 Q0 [2 cBEIJING - The first time Nolan Ledarney went to Hong Quia market to buy dinner for the Canadian ambassador's table, he spoke no Mandarin and the embassy didn't have anyone available to go with him to translate.

Not only was he the only foreigner in sight, he was expected to bargain, to boot. It was a daunting experience.

"Everything was hard to do," laughs the 25-year-old chef.

Flash forward 3 1/2 years and Ledarney, a Saskatchewan native who apprenticed at La Chaumiere restaurant in Calgary, is leaving the ambassador's kitchen to set up his own consulting firm in Hong Kong.
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. L9 n. D+ I7 LOh, and he's fluent in Mandarin now.
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He haggles along with the best of the Chinese chefs in Hong Quia. Merchants put aside some of their freshest produce, fish and meat to tempt him and he often brings them samples of what he cooks with their wares.

) z9 E9 @0 U/ c/ i& n9 V5 HLearning Mandarin "was extremely hard," he says. "It is a language based on tones and that's hard to master."

& W4 T+ u. u! SLedarney's advantage, of course, was living and working in China. His secret weapon was a Chinese girlfriend.
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3 Q* b# l3 E/ h* O9 U4 uFor those who are not so lucky, there are language schools, a solution the Chinese government is promoting around the world as part of its long-term strategy to ease China back into the mainstream after a half century of isolation.

: T' b8 u- F8 n/ H' ]9 uLearning how to say "ni hao" (hello) and "xiexie (thank you) somehow puts a warmer, friendlier face on the emerging superpower than reading newspaper stories about human rights.

"Now, the pace of globalization is quickening and the whole world is more like a small village, the demand of communication is becoming more and more urgent. Language is the first step. Only after the language can people exchange their ideas," is how Zhao Guocheng, deputy director general of the National Office from Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, puts it.

! _3 w( W9 h4 ^7 K" e0 ~There are currently more than 60,000 foreigners studying Mandarin in China and about 30 million tackling the language worldwide. The Chinese government has sent teachers to nearly 300 schools in 70 countries and local Chinese speakers are teaching language classes in about 70 more countries.
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8 _) \* B( ]' ?" `( N( T8 p  A! TBorrowing an idea the British, French and Germans used with some success to spread their language and culture abroad, the Chinese government has established the Confucius Institute to teach its language and showcase its culture around the world.
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The first one opened its doors in Seoul in 2004 and already there are now 54 Confucius Institutes in 29 countries, either on the drawing board or up and running. About 70 more are being considered in 30 countries. China is in a hurry. It has ambitions to teach 100 million foreign students to speak Mandarin by 2010.

- ]% r, g+ W0 U+ d/ ?* c1 @Canada's only Confucius school opened this year at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Zhao calls it "one of the best developed."

  ^" H8 l& n7 ]1 @# xDemand from overseas Chinese communities and people sensing opportunity in the newly awakened China still far outstrip the Confucius movement.

  U1 h+ B2 r$ S; @/ E. vIn Canada alone, where Chinese is the third most common mother tongue after English and French, the Chinese government also has "testing centres for Chinese language proficiency" in Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and London. As well, at the invitation of Alberta government, it has a language consultant working with the Alberta provincial education office.

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7 `, x7 e4 A/ K) A; H( @6 vZhao does not see the appetite for Mandarin slackening anytime soon.
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"Last year, China's foreign trade volume ranked the fourth in the world.
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  U7 F; w& D* a+ a6 a& V' v"More trade and economic exchanges bring about more opportunities of using the Chinese language in work abroad. So, being able to speak Chinese has become a qualification for people to make a living or seek employment," he says.
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; B, h, g7 D6 w1 i1 R# [- C"This motivation for learning Chinese is for the long term."

For foreigners, Zhao admits that learning the language can be a struggle.
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3 g8 Y' ]5 _+ u. y: p% qZhao estimates native Chinese need to know about 3,000 characters to be considered fluent in Mandarin, but a foreigner could get along with "1,000 basic Chinese characters."
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Moreover, Zhao maintains that by teaching only oral Chinese, no reading or writing, foreign students usually take only three to six months "to have fluent communications with locals."

But how do they sound? In a language where the tone you use to say a word makes a difference to its meaning, do most North Americans end up sounding like uneducated idiots?
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Zhao hedges. "Chinese, like other languages, can reflect one's education and background, both by accent and the words people use."

But like language teachers all over the world, he quickly adds: "As long as you set your mind on it, you can speak Chinese like Chinese people do."

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[ 本帖最后由 普通话移民协会 于 2006-7-17 15:15 编辑 ]

高桥

翻译的很好！

板儿砖

原帖由 高桥 于 2006-7-17 15:44 发表
翻译的很好！

McNally

爱城的中英双语课程（公立，不是周末学校），是世界上最早、最完善、最成功的例子。McNally 公立高中的中英双语就是最好的见证。从2004-2006年这所高中的中文部学生有六十多人参加了汉语水平考试（HSK），二十六人得到中国政府“汉语桥”奖学金，今年7月8日获奖同学在复旦大学进一步学习汉语一个月，他们在中国吃、住、学费、教材费以及到苏州、杭州和南京参观的费用都由中国政府资助。这已经是该校第三批获奖学生到中国去学习了。又及，2005年年末，McNally 中文部的学生参加了北美第一次举办的《北美生、北美长——中学生汉语命题作文竞赛》五名学生参加了比赛，三名学生获得10年级、11年级、12年级金奖，一名学生获11年级银奖和另一名学生获12年级铜奖。更可贵的是，McNally公立高中中文部学生去年经申请，有三名学生获准将在2008年北京举办的奥运会上做义工的工作，“奥运义工”必须具备双语能力，除母语以外，汉语水平考试必须8级以上。学生们无比兴奋，（他们是在世界上成千上万的申请者中选拔出来的）到那时，这三位学生已经是大四学生了，值得赞扬的是McNally学校中文部的学生都是在加拿大出生的孩子，他们在中英双语学校正规学习汉语达12年之久。这些学生不但中文棒，其他课程也非常优秀，今年该校有七十多学生参加了IB考试，85%以上的学生是中英双语的学生。 Sample Text

年轻的心

很好!

eastroster

原帖由 McNally 于 2006-7-17 19:24 发表
爱城的中英双语课程（公立，不是周末学校），是世界上最早、最完善、最成功的例子。McNally 公立高中的中英双语就是最好的见证。从2004-2006年这所高中的中文部学生有六十多人参加了汉语水平考试（HSK），二十六人 ...

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一个字：真棒！