President Ma Ying-jeou visited National Taipei University of Education on the morning of December 26 to attend the opening ceremonies of the 11th International Conference on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. In addition to calling for continued efforts to improve the quality of Chinese language instruction, thereby broadening and deepening its impact, the president also expressed hope that, through the teaching of orthodox Chinese characters, we will be able to communicate the beauty and importance of Chinese characters to the international community.
In remarks, President Ma explained that the World Chinese Language Association (WCLA) was established in 1972, and for 42 years has helped the government promote the teaching of Chinese overseas. To promote academic development and interaction, the WCLA since 1984 has held the International Conference on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language every three years, and over 180 scholars and experts from 15 nations and areas across the globe were attending the 2014 conference. He applauded and thanked the association for all it has done over the years to promote the teaching of the Chinese language, cultivate language instructors overseas, hold academic seminars and workshops, establish a platform for international scholarly exchange, and guide the direction of research and thought in the field.
Throughout the world, said President Ma, interest in learning Chinese and Chinese characters has increased considerably in recent years, and growing numbers are becoming familiar with Chinese culture via their study of Chinese. Over 40 million students are taking Chinese language classes at more than 4,000 universities in 100-plus nations and territories, said the president, who mentioned that the children of American investment guru Jim Rogers and Spain's King Felipe VI are among them. This, he said, is testament to the growing importance of the Chinese language in the international community.
President Ma emphasized that the ROC government places great importance on the teaching of the Chinese language overseas. He mentioned that the "Golden Decade, National Vision" plan that he introduced in 2011 includes a focus on "high-quality culture and education" as one way to steer the nation toward further excellence. Promoting Chinese language education throughout the world, he added, is a policy objective. He called for the establishment of a comprehensive and integrated teaching model that can be exported and will cover all aspects of education, from the training of instructors, to the preparation and use of educational materials, to the testing of students. In addition, he remarked, the ROC wants to help its friends and allies develop localized Chinese education curricula. President Ma also mentioned that the Ministry of Education last year inaugurated an eight-year plan to export the teaching of Chinese language and create a top-notch brand name for Taiwan in the instruction of Chinese through "differentiation" and "professionalization." This, he said, will further enable the ROC to serve as a standard-bearer of Chinese culture in the international community.
President Ma commented that the government, in an effort to promote Chinese language instruction overseas and encourage foreign students to come to Taiwan to learn Chinese, has established a scholarship for such students and holds Chinese language aptitude tests and contests. It also helps schools recruit international students to come to Taiwan to study Chinese, he said. The president indicated that impressive results have been seen from these efforts over the past three years.
Commenting on the different types of Chinese characters, President Ma pointed out that while over 1.3 billion people use the Chinese language, fewer than 40 million use orthodox Chinese characters, and Taiwan's population accounts for over half this number. Consequently, people of Taiwan bear responsibility for addressing the issue of how to preserve orthodox characters, pass along the heritage of Chinese culture, continue the use of aesthetically pleasing orthodox characters, and bridge the gap between modern people and the ancient classics, remarked the president.
President Ma said that he has long paid close attention to the topic of orthodox Chinese characters. When he served as Taipei City mayor, the city government began holding the Chinese Character Festival, and after he took office as president in 2008 the event was promoted overseas, with many schools attended by overseas compatriots participating in this initiative. At the same time, he noted, the government is applying to the United Nations to have orthodox Chinese characters given World Heritage status in an effort to publicize the importance of Chinese characters.
Lastly, President Ma encouraged the experts, scholars, and Chinese language instructors in attendance to continue to hone their skills and expand the scale and quality of Chinese language instruction. Remarking that "language determines a culture and culture determines a people," the president expressed hope that the conference would enhance the impact of the Chinese language and enable the world community to realize the importance of Chinese culture.