The Problems of Multi-Chinese Language Varieties and Cultures Encountered by International Chinese Teachers

This article focuses on the issue of language usage encountered by Mandarin language teachers in an international setting/context. Since L2 Mandarin language teachers are diverse in their cultural backgrounds, the languages and cultures of teachers themselves, as well as the varieties of Chinese languages and cultures that learners have contact with, are all factors that are likely to influence Mandarin teaching and learning. This paper presents preliminary observation on the language usage problems which occurred in teaching Mandarin in a global context, including differences in daily expressions, holidays, festivals, formal letter openings and closings, translation of foreign names and places. Studies on language usage differences in the Greater China Region usually take the approach of cross reference list on characters, pronunciations, words and phrases; however, teaching and learning Chinese is only meaningful when you put the usage in a communicative setting. Therefore, it is necessary to expand the scope of study and employ critical communicative methodology. Communication scenarios of language usage are incorporated into our research method and the diversity of Chinese languages and cultures are taken into account in the content of Mandarin language teacher training in a global setting.

Keywords

second language teacher training the Greater China Region language usage teaching Mandarin Chinese in a global context

source

International Journal of Chinese Language Education; June 2017; Issue No. 1; p.171 - 190

Publisher

Department of Chinese Language Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong
Chinese Language Program, Columbia University
Chung Hwa Book Co. (H.K.) Ltd.

Language

Chinese

ISSN

2520-7733 (Print); 2521-4241 (Online)