An opinion piece from NZCLW chair Jo Coughlan.

This week Chinese Language Week celebrates its 8th Birthday. The week runs from Sunday September 25 to Saturday October 1.

New Zealand Chinese Language Week was set up to help bridge the cultural gap between New Zealand and China and to encourage Kiwis to give learning Chinese a go.

Chinese Language Week has grown from small beginnings to become an annual fixture on the calendar. It is evolving and growing organically every year.

2022 sees many new exciting initiatives. Venice Qin, a young and talented pop artist, has released a song called “Call my Name” which refers to her Chinese ancestry; Black Fern, Tyla Nathan-Wong - embracing her Chinese heritage - has become a NZCLW ambassador; and our trilingual children’s book, Whetu The Little Blue Duck, has gone digital.

This is the fifth trilingual book that we have published. These stories are told in English, Chinese and Te Reo Maori. They are welcomed by teachers, students and librarians. This year, we have distributed around 4000 books to schools and libraries across New Zealand. We are getting great feedback. Teachers tell us such resources are as ‘rare as hen’s teeth’.

This year we have 13 Mandarin Superstars – Kiwis who have been on an amazing Chinese language learning journey. They come from all walks of life and have been inspired to learn Chinese for different reasons. They are superstars by virtue of the fact that they are not only giving learning another language a go but they demonstrate the many benefits – cultural as well as multilingualism – of speaking another language.

NZCLW Youth Ambassadors are those very talented secondary school students who have suceeded at the NZ National Schools Chinese Language Bridge Speech competition held by the Confucius Institutes across NZ. From Lincoln High School to Sacred Heart College, Auckland students are embracing the opportunity to learn a new language.

There is a lot happening across the country with businesses, schools, government agencies, councils, community groups, NGOs and individuals using Chinese Language Week to shine a light on Chinese language and culture.

It is exciting to see people participating in fun activities from our “five days, five phrases” challenge to events such as National Dumpling Day.

Some initiatives are available all year round, such as that undertaken by the Department of Conservation , which has an app in Mandarin to help visitors to Auckland identify plants and animals. Te Papa, our national museum, has a great archive of stories about language and culture from Chinese migrants and their families: https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/chinese-languages-aotearoa.

At the time that NZCLW was established, I was travelling regularly to China for work with delegations of business people. We often wished we had more of a grounding and understanding of the culture and language. 

And this, at a time, when China was fast becoming our biggest trading partner. Now we have a very significant multigenerational, and growing, Chinese population here in New Zealand. More than five percent of Kiwis are of Chinese descent.

Learning a language provides a window into another culture. As our young people develop in their careers and become our leaders of tomorrow, greater understanding of other languages and cultures, in this case Chinese, not only better equips them for travelling to China, but will help them embrace other cultural diversity and encourage tolerance, inclusion and diversity of thought in New Zealand.

There are many languages within China. Mandarin is the one taught in New Zealand schools and universities. This doesn’t mean we don’t recognise other Chinese languages – for example, on our website there are videos of support in Cantonese. This year our theme is “Sharing our stories”. We welcome all stories.

Organisations and communities across Aotearoa country have embraced New Zealand Chinese Language Week. In Blenheim, at an event held by the local branch of the New Zealand Chinese Association, members of Marlborough’s Chinese community were thrilled to share their language and culture with an audience that filled the local events centre. They expressed their pride in a language that is 5000 years old and is now used by 20 per cent of the world’s population.

The participants are proud of their culture, their language, and the 56 different language communities within China, and keen to share this with other locals.

New Zealand is a multicultural nation and we should support the cultures that make up our diverse and vibrant society. We are a nation reliant on trade and we think of ourselves as global citizens. However, some might suggest that there are gaps in our education system, as we allow students to go through their school life without the opportunity or encouragement to learn other languages. Is that sufficient when the international environment is seems increasingly fragile and good communications and tolerance, embracing diversity and inclusion is vital?

The New Zealand Chinese Language Week Charitable Trust seeks to positively continue to support language learning and in this case, encourage New Zealanders to give Chinese a go.

Jo Coughlan is Chair of the New Zealand Chinese Language Week Charitable Trust.

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