A team made up of foreign students has won this year's Chinese
Language Contest, a first for the annual competition organized by
Shanghai's Fudan
University. In past competitions, foreign students have
finished either last or second last.
The competition tests contestants' knowledge of Chinese
character structure, pronunciations of polyphones, and idiom
comprehension among others.
Some reasons offered for the Chinese students' poor performance
include a lack of basic knowledge, despite the fact that many of
them passed the university entrance exams only a year ago, and
nerves.?
Compared with Chinese students, foreign students' level of
Chinese proficiency continues to improve every year. Many of the
foreign students in China learn some Chinese in their native
countries before coming here for further studies, according to a
Mr. Xu from the dean's office, Fudan University.
For example, a Singaporean who took part in the contest is
currently pursuing a master's degree in the university's Chinese
Department, and a Russian student attends doctorate courses
there.
Why foreign students do so well could be attributed to their
keen attention to the culture behind the Chinese language. This
enables them to understand and study Chinese with a broader
perspective than the locals.
However, Chinese students, who use their mother tongue every
day, do not necessarily appreciate the beauty of their language,
let alone want to study it, said Fu Jie, director of the Institute
for Chinese Language and Literature at Fudan.
Chen Guanglei, a member of the competition review committee, had
this to say about the contest result: "Language defines a nation.
The foreign students' victory shows that interest in China and our
culture is increasing, a fact that we should appreciate and be
proud of.
"At the same time, we should improve ourselves and our knowledge
of our country and culture. Chinese students should spend as much
time and money learning Chinese and about China and Chinese as they
do on foreign language study."
(China.org.cn by Li Shen, June 29, 2005)