(PATRICK WROKPOH)

The West African state of Liberia is one English speaking country in the region where its nationals take little interest in learning how to speak a foreign language. This is despite the fact that two French-speaking countries, namely Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea, border Liberia and that French is taught in grade school and at university.

And so, when Liberia's highest institution of learning, the University of Liberia in partnership with the governments of Liberia and China launched the Chinese Confucius Institute in December 2008, few expected students to have any interest in learning Chinese.

But less than two years down the line there is a significant increment in the number of enrollments, jumping from 100 in the first year of operation to over 300 in the second year.

Promoting Chinese

Dr. Alpha Bah is the director of the institute since it opened. He considers the latest enrollment as a giant step forward in the institution's quest to teach the Chinese language. "I think these students want to be part of the general progress between China and Liberia. They are looking for alternative routes to advance their studies and see China as the study," he said.

Bah said the students do not want to go through the difficulties to get a visa from Western embassies. He added that China's emergence in the world of new nations and what it has done and is doing in Liberia and other parts of Africa have boosted the zeal of these students to learn the Chinese.

Bah believes the institute is making tremendous efforts to promote the language and has embarked on a process to take the students on regular visits into the Chinese community in Liberia. He said a popular 30-minute program run by the institute on the University of Liberia's private radio station, Lux FM 106.6, is an added advantage for the students and the general public to learn about China and its language.

"We sometimes take them [students] to where the instructors live for them to interact out of the classroom. Additionally, we also have a choir consisting of the students at the institute that are being taught to sing Chinese songs," he said.

Bah said the institute has succeeded in making the language a minor course as part of the university's curriculum, meaning it is a required course for four semesters. The students can choose Chinese as an alternative to French. "Some of the students have begun selecting the four semesters to learn Chinese as an alternative to French," he said.

Students' interest high  

Four Chinese instructors, including Duansheng Feng, who is also the deputy director of the institute, are conducting the Chinese classes.

Instructor Feng believes that significant progress has been made at the institute over the past months, taking into consideration the interest that has grown among the student population. He said these students are learning the language faster because they have developed the interest. "For me, I think Africans are geniuses. I think they have natural talent in learning [languages] and above all, they have the interest for the language [Chinese]," said Feng.

Ophelia Jabbah Gibson, a female student of the University of Liberia studying Biology and Chemistry and enrolled at the Confucius Institute, sees the learning of the language as the best option for her to advance her studies in medicine when she travels to China.

"I want to learn about Chinese medicine and their health system and one best way to achieve my goal is to learn the Chinese language," she said. Gibson is one of several students the institute has selected to travel to China in the not too distance future. She said the world is a global village and as such, there is a need for Africans to adopt the practice of learning a variety of languages and not just sticking on to a single language spoken in their respective countries. "Liberians are not good at learning foreign languages, but it is good for us to learn other languages such as Chinese because the opportunity could come for us to be integrated in other societies apart from ours," she said.

According to her, learning Chinese is difficult but it is a process that needs focus and attention. "Once you are focused and attentive and more especially, once you have the interest, you can certainly succeed to learn Chinese," she said.

Gibson believes that China, as an emerging world power, has been stagnant in the past and has not been moving out to other nations. She thinks it is a good move for China now to learn from the experiences of others.

Mayamu Keita, another female student at the University of Liberia enrolled at the institute, said her interest has developed in the language since the institute was launched because she would also love to study Chinese medicine in China in the future. She sees learning the language as something that would better her chances and enable her to achieve her goal. "The Chinese people are our friends and they have been playing a leading role to assist our country. I think it is good to learn the language of your good friend to enhance communication," said Keita.

Unlike her colleague, she sees the learning of Chinese as something that is easy. "I do not think learning Chinese is difficult especially when you make up your mind. We have instructors who try as much as they can to make the lesson very simple and we are grabbing the concept," she said.

Alfred Tokpa, another student of the institute says he sees China as a nation that is opening doors to Africans. "I think if you learn the language, it betters your chances to forward your study in China because the Chinese Government is giving 100 foreign scholarships to our country annually. Your chances of being selected for these foreign scholarships are higher if you have the advantage of speaking the language," he said.

(Reporting from Liberia)

Confucius Institutes in Africa

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