Written by: Xinhua
Posted on: August 01, 2018 | 
| 中文
Certificates awarded to Pakistani Students on completion of HSK-1
"If you speak Chinese, it is very easy to find a job in Pakistan, especially in Chinese enterprises," Abbas, a junior college student, answered when the journalist asked him why he chose to learn Chinese.
Not long ago, while watching the "Happy Spring Festival" variety performance at Pakistan’s National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Abbas sat beside the journalist. Upon knowing that the journalist was from China, Abbas began to speak Chinese. He said he would go to China to learn Chinese this year, and three relatives from his family were already studying Chinese in Shanghai.
"Now that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is under construction, a lot of Pakistani people need translation from Chinese to Urdu in their work for the project," said Abbas.
Recently, the Pakistan Senate has adopted a resolution to encourage CPEC human resource training programs to provide Chinese courses, and thus reduce communication barriers caused by the language problem.
Zhang Daojian, Director of the Confucius Institute in Islamabad, said that although the resolution was only a suggestion, it reflected that the use of Chinese language has gained more and more attention in Pakistan. There are more than 5000 students studying Chinese at the Confucius Institute in Islamabad and other teaching sites that cooperate with the Institute, and the number does not include those who have been studying Chinese language in Confucius classes and local private language schools.
"The number of Pakistanis learning Chinese is increasing, especially after 2015. We had only 30 to 40 students enrolled each year in the past, but now more than 400 people are enrolled every year. We have opened 14 classes, which is the maximum capacity of the institute, yet still our Chinese classes are in short supply,” said Zhang.
Since 2012, Chinese language teaching institutions in Pakistan have blossomed like mushrooms after rain. In just a few years, the number of Confucius Institutes grew from only one to four.
"By 2013, the number of examinees taking the HanyuShuipingKaoshi (HSK), the Chinese language proficiency test, was only a little more than 100 every year. Now, over 1000 people have registered for the test at each Confucius Institute," said Zhang.
According to the statistics from the Confucius Institute in Islamabad, only 671 candidates registered for the HSK in 2015, but the figure soared to 3659 in 2017.
Zhang said that in 2015, many CPEC construction projects started to be implemented, which created a large number of employment opportunities for Pakistanis, and many Pakistani people saw the hope of changing their life through learning Chinese language.
"Some Pakistani people who speak fluent Chinese even become senior managers of Chinese enterprises in the local places. After mastering the language, they have really changed their life trajectory,” he said.
At the same time, more and more Pakistani students regard China as their first choice for studying abroad. According to a recent statistic released by Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, about 2500 Pakistan students went to China for further education in 2017 alone. Studying in China is also one of the driving forces for Pakistani students to learn Chinese.
Mina once studied Chinese for a year at Beijing Language and Culture University. In September of this year, she will go to Beijing to study Chinese again. “China is a neighbor and a good friend of Pakistan, so we should understand and use Chinese language. This will enable Pakistan's younger generation to broaden their horizons. Now with CPEC, Chinese has really become the language for Pakistani people to change their future,” said Mina.
Translated by Xu Donglin
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