Although interest in learning Mandarin has declined in the Western world, it is becoming increasingly common in the Middle East to make it mandatory for students to attend mandatory Chinese language classes. Including the case of Chinese language courses in Saudi high schools and elsewhere, which may reflect geopolitical changes in the Middle East. Which was previously considered a zone of influence for the United States, but has now become a zone of influence. China’s “soft power”
Illustration source: Wikipedia and Bhubharatri 3.2
Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab country in the Middle East offering instruction in Mandarin or “Mandarin Chinese” is a compulsory subject in secondary schools. Both public schools and private schools will have a class facilitator whose job is to assist or guide the group of students in learning on their own.
Ma Yongliang, who opened two Chinese language institutes in Saudi Arabia this year, said the growing number of Mandarin speakers shows a shift in geopolitics. Ma Yongliang said that China is “a country that has become a great power” and that it will play an important role in “developing the world and creating a new world order” that requires people to practice speaking Chinese more fluently if they want to. “Cooperation or interaction with China”
What inspired him to open the Bayt Al-Hikmah Chinese Language Institute in Saudi Arabia is his belief that with practice one can master the Chinese language. “The most spoken language in the world and the mother tongue of 1,300 million people.” “Conquer the world”
Wescom House Language Institute in Riyadh There are about 50 students enrolled, and the teachers are from China. There is another branch of the Bayt Al-Hekma Language Institute in Jeddah, which includes about 20 registered students.
The expansion of Chinese language education in Saudi secondary schools comes after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman concluded an agreement in 2019 when he visited China. There will be Chinese language teaching in the educational curricula at every level, including in universities.
The agreement represents an important step for China in advancing its culture to the world. It had previously deteriorated as China came under scrutiny on all fronts, both technological and ideological. This is the result of the dispute between China and the United States.
In recent years, more than 100 Confucius Institutes at universities in the United States, Australia and Europe, where they served as a vehicle for promoting Chinese language and culture, have closed. These institutions were closed due to concerns about China’s influence. In addition, China’s image has worsened due to policies towards Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and the dispute in the South China Sea. It also contributed to many Western universities reducing the number of Confucius Institutes on their campuses.
But China appears to have found a new area to expand its influence through its “soft power”: the Middle East.
China’s economic and cultural “soft power” in the Middle East
Geoffrey Gill, senior lecturer at Flinders University in Adelaide and author of a book on the spread of Chinese around the world, says interest in learning a foreign language often follows the geopolitical trends of the time.
Gill said that the decline in Western interest in the Chinese language is due to the impact of China’s deteriorating relations with the West through economic and political conflicts. It also makes people feel less inclined to study Chinese. While other regional countries who have a better relationship with China and have a greater desire to learn the Chinese language, the Chinese government will strive to promote the learning and teaching of the Chinese language in those places. As a result, Chinese remains a powerful language and there are more people who want to study it in these fields.
Fan Hongda, a professor at the Institute of Middle East Studies at Shanghai International University, said more people are interested in studying Mandarin. This reflects that China has very good diplomatic relations in the Middle East region. From walking through the Middle East, which was a sphere of influence for the United States. Whether it was intentional or not. Learning a foreign language is key to using soft power to create a positive image and image for a country.
Fan Hongda also said that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates are promoting more Chinese language learning and this is a reflection that relations between China and the Middle East are becoming more positive.
The UAE has a population of 8.3 million, the seventh largest oil reserve in the world, and is the first country in the Arabian Gulf to include Mandarin in its national compulsory education curriculum. The Chinese Embassy in Abu Dhabi said that China helped the UAE launch Chinese language programs in 100 schools in 2019 and expanded them to include 158 government schools.
Egypt also signed a memorandum of understanding with China in 2020 to include Mandarin in the curriculum as an optional second language in primary and secondary schools.
In July, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi proposed a draft law that would include Mandarin as one of the foreign languages taught in secondary schools. Available nationwide after my boss traveled to China last February.
Clearly, China has greatly influenced the Middle East in the recent past. Whether it was in December 2022 when Xi Jinping, President of China, took office and while traveling to attend a regional summit with leaders of the oil-rich Gulf Arab states, China surprised the world three months later by mediating peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This comes after many Middle Eastern countries that had conflicts with each other returned to reconciliation. Including Iran, Morocco, Egypt, the Emirates, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt.
Gill said that when China saw that there were still no signs of tension, this happened to the West during this period. China is also likely to target Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America as areas where it can expand its “soft power” through learning the Chinese language.
But it remains to be seen whether the Chinese language will take root in the Middle East or not.
But studying the Chinese language in the Middle East and there are still obstacles.
Saudi Arabia A country with a population of 37 million and possessing the second largest oil reserve in the world, Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States. For a long time, it is now trying to strengthen relations with China in other matters. In addition to oil trading this means, including technology and infrastructure. Or even about weapons. What does this is the economic diversification plan launched by Prince Bin Salman.
The new Confucius Institute was just launched in June, and in August, Saudi Arabia was also invited, along with Iran and the International Women’s Federation, to attend the BRICS meeting with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Africa. A member also becomes a further expansion of the BRICS group
There are analysts who say that and the fact that these Middle Eastern countries provide Chinese language education in their countries also constitutes a “mutual expression” of China’s soft power. The Middle East wants to strengthen relations with China through the Belt and Road Initiative.
However, trying to organize teaching and learning in the Arab world still poses various problems. For example, Arab students say Mandarin is not as attractive as European languages because of its “historical perspective” and the lack of Chinese teachers.
Moreover, although China has greater economic influence in the Middle East, in the business world, the Chinese language is still not widely used. Although some companies in the UAE with operations in China send their employees to Confucius Institutes to learn Chinese, the number of people sent to study was still small, said Mohammed Abdul Rahman Maharoon, Director General of the Dubai General Research Centre. Because the Arabs and Chinese have continued to use English as the main conversational language from then until now.
The United Arab Emirates is one of the major business and transportation centers in the Middle East. There are more than 6,000 Chinese-owned companies, and Baharon said that although the Arab Gulf countries have opened trade with China and interacted more with the Chinese people, they have created a demand for cultural exchanges with China. But Mandarin is still not a widely spoken language compared to other languages. Which are used by foreigners in the Emirates, such as Hindi or Urdu, which are more used in India and Pakistan
There is also the problem that Middle Eastern countries lack truly authentic Chinese teachers. And the problems of educational performance in the Arab countries themselves
Ahmed Abouda, a research assistant in the Middle East and North Africa Program at the British think tank Chattom House, said that although countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have policies that support the Chinese language, there are also problems related to inefficiency in the education systems. Their own. To the point of not being able to create enough people with foreign language skills, for example in Saudi Arabia, there is a one-year Chinese language course. By emphasizing learning through rote memorization.
Abu Deh also pointed out that the political will to promote the Chinese language in Middle Eastern countries does not go hand in hand with funding. This causes the problem of shortage of native English teachers from China. This is because recruiting teachers from China to Arab countries is very expensive compared to training teachers from those same Arab countries.
The fact that there are few teachers also makes the existing teachers work harder. Many of them are required to work 26-28 hours a week teaching classes. Some teachers said that they went to teach Chinese in the UAE through a program sponsored by the Confucius Institute. And teachers who can teach must meet very high requirements. In addition to obtaining a master’s degree or higher. You should also have at least 3 years of experience teaching Chinese abroad, which will be an advantage if you have taught in a Western country before. You must also have a Mandarin and English language proficiency test certificate.
However, in China there are a number of public schools that include teaching Arabic as a compulsory subject. Now the Arabic language is taught in 37 universities and educational institutions in China. Baharon believes that the number of Arabic speakers in China may be greater than the number of Chinese-speaking Arabs. Because there are a number of Chinese Muslims in China. In addition, the Chinese people also have beneficial investments in Arab countries, which gives them an incentive to understand Arab culture more, to the point that more Chinese people are interested in learning Arabic.
Many Chinese view learning Arabic as an attractive alternative to studying a foreign language because it is “very useful if you are interacting with finance, trade or investment abroad,” Aboudah said. “Or even with an interest in diversifying options.”
Compiled from
Mandarin Chinese learning booms as China expands its soft power in the Middle East South China Morning Newspaper09-15-2023
Middle East efforts set the tone for “rapprochement” with China on trade South China Morning Newspaper09-22-2023