VOA慢速英语:南非将中国普通话纳入其学校课程表

South Africa Introduces Mandarin into Its School Curriculum

南非将普通话纳入其学校学习课程

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.

美国之音慢速英语，这里是教育报道。

South Africa has 11 official languages. If you want to say hello, it's "sawubona" in Zulu, and "hallo" in Afrikaans. Now, South Africa's school children may start using "ni hao" to say hello.

南非有11种官方语言。如果你要打招呼，用祖鲁语是"sawubona"，用南非荷兰语是"hallo"。而现在，南非的学龄儿童开始用“你好”来打招呼。

The country's education minister says, the nation is adding the Mandarin language teaching in some schools. Mandarin is the official spoken language of China. That country is a major trading power for South Africa.

南非教育部长表示一些学校已经开始教授普通话。普通话是中国的官方语言，而中国是南非的最重要的贸易国。

A recent agreement between the two nations centers on five areas of cooperation. They include development in basic education, school books and lessons, mathematics and science, teacher training and career education and research.

两国最近签署的一项协议涉及5个合作领域，分别是基础教学发展、教科书与教程、数学与科学、师资培训和教育生涯研究。

South Africa officials have not said how much they teaching Mandarin will cost. Troy Martens is an officials with South Africa's Ministry of Basic Education. She says the new partnership is extremely valuable.

南非官员并未对教授普通话会花费多少资金发表声明。特洛伊·马丁是南非基础教育部的一名官员。她说这次新的伙伴关系极为珍贵。

"So it is very exciting and both countries have indicated that for them education is a high priority, and that is why education is high on the agenda of collaboration between the two countries," said Martens.

马丁表示“因此这是非常令人振奋的，双方国家都表示教育高于一切，这也是为什么教育在两国合作中被提上日程的原因。”

The part of the plan that has garnered the most attention is the inclusion of the Mandarin language in schools.

而这项计划最吸引人的一部分就是学校课程纳入普通话。

A public opinion study last year found that South Africans have mixed feelings about China. The survey showed 46 percent of South Africans do not like the spread of Chinese ideas and customs in their country, the results also showed that 60 percent dislike Chinese music, movies and television.

南非公众对中国的态度是喜忧参半。民意调查表明46%的南非人不喜欢中国的思想和习俗在自己国家传播，还有60%的人不喜欢中国的音乐、电影和电视。

But Ms Martens said Chinese trade is more important than those feelings. She said it is extremely helpful to learners in South Africa to study Mandarin as well as Chinese culture. And she said not every school will offer Mandarin.

但是马丁女士说相对他们的那些感受，更重要的是对中国的贸易。对学习者来说普通话和中国文化的学习极为重要，而且并不是每所学校都会提供普通话课程的!

"Now this will not be compulsory, it will not be for every school, and it will not be for every child. But for schools that feel they have the capacity to offer Mandarin as a subject, we think it is a great opportunity for South African learners to be exposed to this international type of language," said Martens.

马丁还说“目前普通话教学并不属于义务教学的范畴，并不是说每所学校，每个学生都要学习。 但是对于那些有能力提供普通话教学的学校，我们认为这是学生接触这门国际语言的好机会。”

South Africa's population studies do not say how many native Chinese speakers are among its nearly 51 million people.

南非人口有大约51000000，但在这些人口中有多少中国人，南非人口调查并未透露。

Lisette Noonan heads the 80-year-old Pretoria Chinese School in South Africa's capital. The school serves about 500 students from kindergarten to grade 12. Every student studies Mandarin.

里希特.努南是南非80年历史的比勒陀利亚中文学校的校长。这所学校有幼儿园到12年级的学生一共500名，每个学生都学习普通话。

Ms Noonan says the school welcomes the new cooperation between South Africa and China. She said it is in the best interests of children to study Mandarin. She said that especially true with China becoming what she called "a huge economic power in the world".

努南表示欢迎南非与中国的新合作。他说学习普通话孩子们最受益，尤其现在中国正在成为她所谓的“世界经济强国”。

South African schools suffer from the country's history of apartheid.

南非学校正在经历国家种族隔离的历史的教训。

And from VOA Learning English, that's the Education Report. I'm Bob Doughty.

这就是今天美国之音慢速英语，教育报道的全部内容!我是鲍勃.道蒂。

（本文由chinavoa.com整理翻译，请勿转载）