Students chase their dreams by learning Chinese

HARARE－For 18-year-old Nyasha Silver Kusedyo, a Chinese-language student, to master the language, dedication is not just enough, a certain level of "craziness" is also needed.

"When my teacher found out that I was struggling in learning Chinese, she actually advised that to learn Chinese, you actually have to be a bit crazy－to understand the tones and the culture. You have to change your thinking," he says.

Kusedyo, an intermediate Chinese-language learner at Zimgro Language Consultancy in Harare, is one of many young Zimbabweans chasing their dreams by learning Chinese.

For many students, the learning process can be daunting. Unlike local Zimbabwean languages that use the phonetic Latin alphabet, Chinese is composed of pictograms and semi-phonetic ideograms.

Kusedyo, who recently finished high school, says his dream of becoming an entrepreneur keeps him soldiering on.

"I am learning Chinese so that I can actually gain a competitive advantage in the entrepreneurship pool," he says.

Tawanda Zimhindo, founder of Zimgro Language Consultancy and a Chinese-language teacher with Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe, is helping Chinese-language learners.

Zimhindo is recognized for his Chinese-language teaching by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, an institution affiliated to the Chinese Ministry of Education.

Zimhindo says learning Chinese has become popular among youngsters in Zimbabwe as they seek to be more competitive in the job market.

China has become a competitive study destination, surpassing some traditional English-speaking destinations.

"Initially what motivated me to learn Chinese was the good economic relationship between Zimbabwe and China," says Rebokile Setoboli, an economics graduate from the University of Zimbabwe.

Translators with a good command of Chinese can earn more than $500 a month.

Setoboli, who is now a Chinese teacher at Zimgro, says learning Chinese opens doors to job opportunities.

Xinhua