26 August 2019
Learning Mandarin
The Republic of China (ROC) Embassy in Honiara is once again co-hosting the learning of Mandarin language at the Solomon Islands National University.
I would encourage as many students as possible to take the opportunity to learn the language, being the most used language today.
Mandarin language is spoken by millions of people and being one of the most spoken languages in the world, it is arguably the language of business today.
There is a Chinese proverb which, translated, reads:
“To lean a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.”
I greatly benefitted from attending the Hong Kong Government Language School when serving in Hong Kong where I learned how to speak Cantonese.
Because Cantonese is a tonal language, unlike say, Malay, I found it relatively easy to learn to speak Thai, also being a tonal language.
The Chinese proverb I have quoted certainly proved correct and having studied and speaking Cantonese and Thai has opened up many opportunities, to say nothing of travel experiences, that I would have missed if I had not opted to first learn a foreign language now many years ago.
Solomon Islanders should take full advantage of the Mandarin lessons on offer and I greatly encourage as many as possible to sign up for the instruction.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
