This week New Zealand celebrated its eighth annual Chinese Language Week. The week runs from Sunday 25 to Saturday 1 October.
The goal of the Chinese Language Week is to bridge the cultural gap between New Zealand and China and to encourage Kiwis to learn the Chinese language.
To mark this year’s Week, Venice Qin, a young pop artist from Auckland, released the song “Call my Name”, which refers to her Chinese ancestry, and Black Ferns rugby player Tyla Nathan-Wong became an official New Zealand Chinese Language Week ambassador.
The Week is also used to promote the Chinese language through children’s books. For the past five years, the New Zealand Chinese Language Week Trust has provided trilingual (English–Te Reo Māori– Mandarin Chinese) books to school and district libraries around the country. This year saw 4000 books being distributed and, for the first time, a video recording of one story was produced.
New Zealand Chinese Language Week Charitable Trust chair Jo Coughlan says the books have been hugely popular.
“There don’t seem to be many books like this, where Mandarin Chinese, Te Reo Māori, and English are all together.
“Teachers tell us that their students are thrilled to see their cultures and languages reflected – whether that’s in Te Reo Māori or Mandarin Chinese, or indeed both.
Coughlan says that there is plenty of evidence to show that the brain benefits from learning more than one language.
“As a trust, we encourage the learning of Mandarin, but all languages have benefits,” she says.
Coughlan adds, “There are many languages within China. Mandarin is the one taught in New Zealand schools and universities. This doesn’t mean we don’t recognise other Chinese languages – for example, on our website there are videos of support in Cantonese.”
As a multicultural nation that is reliant on trade, Coughlan says that it is important that we provide students with opportunities to learn other languages.
“Learning a language provides a window into another culture. As our young people develop in their careers and become our leaders of tomorrow, greater understanding of other languages and cultures, in this case Chinese, not only better equips them for travelling, but will help them embrace other cultural diversity and encourage tolerance, inclusion and diversity of thought in New Zealand.”
The video of the book being read in Mandarin Chinese, English, and Te Reo Māori is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIomXJukBYU
