Taiwan Can Help: Learn Mandarin from Taiwan to know China better

NEW DELHI. Days after India dropped Mandarin language (Chinese) from the list of foreign languages at the school level in its National Education Policy (NEP) following an ongoing territorial and military spat with China, Taiwan, has said that it was important to learn Mandarin to know China in a better way, and for this, it could help India.

Mandarin is the official language of Taiwan and is spoken in many other countries other than China, it said.

Scores of Taiwan Education Centres at various campuses of Indian universities are already providing Mandarin courses for Indian students.

“In terms of education, in order to understand much more about China, Taiwan may be the best partner with India. The TECC’s Education division respects the final decision of the cabinet and the Taiwan Education Centres in different university campuses and teachers from Taiwan will continue to provide Mandarin courses for students,” said a written statement issued by the Education Division of TECC  on Sunday.

It further said, “One important point to be considered is that, in addition to China, people actually speak Mandarin in many countries, including Taiwan, Singapore, part of Malaysia, part of Mongolia. Mandarin is also the official language of Taiwan. Traditional characters which are used in Taiwan are more logical and hold cultural meaning. It is different from the simplified characters used in China, which are simply symbolic. For a better understanding of China’s history, society, and trade, India definitely can consider Taiwan as the best and safest partner to learn much more about China, through its language.”

According to Peters L Y Chen, Director, Education Division, TECC, the Education Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India (TECC) had entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with 18 universities in India including IIT Bombay, Madras and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI).

“We have taught Mandarin to more than 7000 Indian students in the past eight years. Though the India government has dropped Mandarin from the list of foreign languages in the National Education Policy (NEP) at the school level, we are ready to work with the schools if they wanted to teach Mandarin to their students,” Peters L Y Chen told Asian Community News (ACN) Network.

A substantial number of Indian students have been opting to pursue their higher studies in Taiwan for many years, and Taiwan too has been promoting Indian students. Last year, TECC in India awarded scholarships valuing about Rs. 14 Crores to 79 students, mostly from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

“With more than 2,700 Indian students studying in Taiwan every year, Taiwan was ranked as No. 12 destination for Indian students for further studying. Most of the students are pursuing Master or Ph.D. degrees in the field of semiconductor, biomedical studies, engineering, management, chemistry, social science, design, etc. Many of them are leading their lives in Taiwan with good jobs or having Indian restaurants on their own. With the low cost of living and high-quality education, of that 11 universities are among the top 500 in the world by QS ranking,” said a statement issued by TECC’ Education Division.

It further stated that Taiwan’s universities would like to work with Indian universities to sign MoUs for faculty exchange or student exchange programs. More and more Indian universities showed interest in having online Mandarin courses with Taiwan’s partners amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also read: A new Taiwan Education Centre to come up at Shoolini University, Himachal Pradesh