Confucius Institute bridges global language barrier

Volunteer groups

Yang Xue and Shen Feifei, both Chinese-language teachers, come from Northeast China. Living in an area geographically close to the ROK, they have been exposed to the global popularity of the country's pop culture.

In 2012, Yang was among the first group of volunteer teachers from China to join a national ex-change program between the two countries to mark the 20th anniversary of bilateral ties. Later, she taught successively at Saint-Joseph University's Confucius Institute in Lebanon and Shenyang Normal University in Liaoning province.

Yang returned to the ROK to teach in 2016.

Shen, a former volunteer for the program, believes that friendship between countries starts with individuals, and uses her spare time to deepen her understanding of the ROK.

"Before I first arrived in the country (in 2016), I didn't really know much about it … but I feel people here are very hospitable and polite," said Shen, who has passed the highest level of the Test of Proficiency in Korean.

After classes, Chinese and Korean teachers often sit together to discuss methods of instruction.

"While Chinese instructors have the natural advantage of being native speakers, Koreans also have their advantages as learners, because they are more familiar with issues that ROK students may face," Yang said. "By having meetings regularly, we use each other's advantages to improve the overall teaching quality at CIS."

Encouraged by Confucius Institutes, more than 60 countries now include Chinese- language teaching in their national education systems, and over 170 nations have established Chinese-language courses or majors. Before 2004, there were fewer than 30 million Chinese learners worldwide. Now, the number exceeds 100 million.

Students learning Chinese in the ROK have a higher goal than merely passing the HSK.

Lee, the director, said CIS is in talks with several Chinese universities to launch an advanced Chinese-language training course by the end of this year for ROK high school students interested in studying in China.

"In the past, ROK students mainly studied majors such as Chinese language and literature, but now they are interested in every subject, from history and business management, to science and engineering," said Lee, who has worked in Chinese-language education for nearly 40 years.

With this year marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 15th anniversary of CIS, Lee said the institute will organize a series of events, including an international symposium on Chinese-language education in October.

"Language is the prerequisite for communication," said Lee, who is also a professor of Chinese language and literature at Sungkyunkwan University in the ROK. "When people understand Chinese themselves, instead of knowing China through third-party sources such as media reports, they can experience Chinese culture and learn about the country directly."