Learning Chinese an opportunity to attach with historical past and tradition

“Give Chinese a go,” stays the message of Chinese Language Week, now into its eleventh 12 months, says Associate Professor Danping Wang, head of Chinese on the University of Auckland.

“Learning Chinese is not just about mastering vocabulary but connecting with a civilisation that spans thousands of years, understanding diverse communities, and opening doors to new opportunities.”

She says many New Zealanders are stunned to be taught that Chinese isn’t a single language, however an umbrella time period encompassing greater than 200 dialects grouped into seven main households.

“Cantonese, for example, one of the most prominent, has deep historical roots in New Zealand. Early Chinese migrants, arriving as far back as 1842, were mostly Cantonese speakers from villages in Guangzhou. For generations, Cantonese was the dominant language within Chinese communities here.”

However, Wang says the linguistic panorama started to shift within the Nineteen Nineties with the arrival of Mandarin audio system from Taiwan, Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai.

“Today, Mandarin and Cantonese coexist alongside other variants such as Shanghainese and Sichuanese, contributing to the vibrant diversity of Chinese New Zealanders, and their cuisines, which have become a beloved part of the country’s multicultural identity.”

Education has performed a pivotal function on this evolution, says Wang.

“The University of Auckland actually pioneered Chinese language education in New Zealand, launching its first courses in 1966; next year marks the programme’s 60th anniversary.”

She says the University has taught tens of 1000’s of scholars over the a long time, who’ve gone on to work in authorities, enterprise, schooling, and the humanities, “bringing with them a deep understanding of China’s language, literature, and society”.

“Victoria University then followed suit in the 1970s, and other institutions developed Chinese programmes in the 1990s. Chinese entered New Zealand schools after the publication of the first curriculum in 1995.”

In lecture rooms, Mandarin stays essentially the most extensively taught variant, largely because of the availability of educating assets, says Wang, however there’s a “full spectrum” of Chinese languages on the market.

“Mandarin and Cantonese are both beautiful, dynamic languages. They’re part of a living tradition that continues to evolve.”

A enjoyable truth for linguists, says Wang, is that whenever you learn a Tang dynasty poem from the sixth century aloud in Cantonese, the rhymes typically sound excellent.

“That’s because Cantonese preserves many older sounds and final consonants from Middle Chinese, making it closer to how classical poetry was originally pronounced.”

She says there are only a few audio system of ‘pure’ or ‘accent-free’ Mandarin.

“Most Mandarin speakers use it alongside their local dialect or regional language, so their speech carries a local accent.”

She says Mandarin has undergone larger sound modifications over the centuries, which is why many rhymes don’t match as neatly as we speak.

“However, Mandarin also absorbed vocabulary from languages like Mongolian and Manchu during periods of foreign rule, adding unique words and cultural layers to its lexicon.”

For Chinese Language Week, Wang invitations New Zealanders to discover “not just a language, but a world of stories, connections and shared futures”.