French Sinologist stresses the importance of Chinese language education to ensure bilateral ties
Interest in learning the Chinese language has been growing around the globe, and this is evidenced by the rising popularity of Mandarin classes all over the world, says renowned French Sinologist Joel Bellassen.
He made the comment during an education seminar in Fujian province on Dec 16. Two days later, the Frenchman conducted a class at Tongji University in Shanghai where he shared techniques for comprehending Chinese characters and other linguistic tips with more than 20 international students, before delivering a speech about his passion for the Chinese language to hundreds of young students from the university.
When it comes to the Chinese language, few nonnative Chinese are as well-versed as the 73-year-old, who can speak standard Mandarin with decent Beijing accent and likes wearing a traditional Chinese-style jacket in dark blue. He spent more than half a century learning the language and has made hundreds of trips to China.
Since his maiden trip in 1973, as an exchange student in Beijing, Bellassen has dedicated much of his life to not only mastering the Chinese language, but also building bridges that connect French and Chinese cultures.
Between 1973 and 1975, the Frenchman studied Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute, which is now the Beijing Language and Culture University, and Peking University. So enamored by the language, he went on to create methods to teach Chinese language in primary schools in France.
In 1984, he became a founding member of the Association Francaise des Professeurs de Chinois (Association of Chinese Language Teachers of France). In 1989, he coproduced A Key to Chinese Speech and Writing, a textbook that included a list of over 900 Chinese characters. They accounted for about 90 percent of frequently used characters in publications. Mastering these 900 Chinese characters means that foreign people can generally read newspapers or books.
The two-volume A Key to Chinese Speech and Writing has been widely adopted in schools across France and is among the most popular text books in schools.
Even former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing lavished praise on the usefulness of his pedagogy.
According to Bellassen, Chinese was added to the French national baccalaureate in 1968. In 2013, Chinese language courses were made available in all school districts in mainland France, and this led to "a significant increase in the number of students studying Chinese".
In 2006, Bellassen was appointed the first Inspector General in the field of Chinese language teaching at the French Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports, with overall responsibility for Chinese language education throughout France.
But Bellassen was quick to downplay on the reason behind his career achievements.
"I would probably not be in this position today if not for the establishment of China-France ties in 1964," he told China Daily at the International School of Tongji University on Dec 18.
"The exchange of students between the two countries was one of the most significant acts following the establishment of diplomatic ties. In fact, some of the 21 French exchange students who were part of the first exchange between the two sides were my teachers."
He was drawn to undertake the challenge of learning the language, alongside the unfamiliar but unique culture, particularly the Chinese characters that embody the essence of Chinese nationality.
Chinese characters are representative elements of Chinese culture, according to Bellassen. The language is totally different from Western language models.
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), the founding figure of modern linguistics, divided character systems into two categories: ideographic and phonetic, the former being represented by Chinese characters. In most cases each Chinese character is a separate linguistic unit with meaning. After being combined into words, characters form one or more new meanings.
For example, the Chinese character dian means electricity and nao means brain. When the two characters are paired with each other, creating the word diannao, it means computer.
"For me, the meaning of Chinese characters is extraordinary," Bellassen adds.
The uniqueness of the Chinese language became the focus of his research for much of his career.
Looking ahead to 2024, which marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, Bellassen is hoping that both countries will maintain efforts to drive engagement between their young people and academics.
He also stresses the need to enhance professional development to ensure that Chinese language teachers have the resources to motivate new generations of Sino-French cultural ambassadors.
Bellassen says that recent developments in this field have left him heartened.
On Sept 6, Chen Jie, China's vice-minister of education, met with Edouard Geffray, director-general for school education at the French Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports, in Paris and signed an agreement regarding international Chinese classes offered in France.
According to the agreement, China and France will continue to cooperate on Chinese language programs in France, increase the number of Chinese language classes offered, train more local Chinese teachers, and develop new teaching materials.
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