Chinese for Asian in Australia

Tan Nguyen

Tan Nguyen has worked in IT for  over 10 years. Mostly in consultancy roles specialising in enterprise content management and web development. His work has allowed him to travel overseas and work on large projects for multinationals. He has dabbled in managing a small business and is looking for opportunities to expand his skills in the area.

As an Asian person growing up in Australia, my interest in the Chinese language and culture can extend back to my childhood. Growing up I have been told and re-told many stories of China’s influence in my heritage and ancestry. China’s influence extends across many countries throughout history. Watching Chinese movies about the Han Dynasty and the Emperors of ancient China and how the Great Wall of China was built you get a sense of awe and fascination about the country. It was apparent that to fully understand and appreciate the many wonders of this magnificent and unique land, I had to learn and embrace the language and culture.

As with many languages, the history and culture of the country is synonymous with the history of the language. We can learn much about the history of a country and her people by learning the language. For us to fully recognise and grasp the uniqueness of this language we must look past the politics of the day and look straight into the eyes of the people and the culture.

From the very beginning, thousands of years ago, humans only communicated via pictures and paintings. Now we have a highly structured phonetic and grammatical system to allow us to communicate with each other more effectively and accurately.
This is how languages evolve. From pictures to depict meanings to strokes that become calligraphy to writing that is more efficient. Now with the Romanisation of Chinese using pinyin, the language itself is easier than ever to grasp.

One of the main benefits of learning Chinese is that once you have learned the language, you can now communicate with another billion people in the world. The world becomes a much smaller and cosier place.

I have no direct connections with China; however I have some friends that I have worked with who were international students. I have learned much from their stories and the provinces that they come from. I am looking forward to reaching out and engaging in dialogue that will build great relationships and connections with more people.

My experience in studying Chinese has been both inspiring and rewarding. I started studying Chinese during my days at university. I enrolled in a separate language course at Ultimo TAFE and during that time was fortunate enough to have a Caucasian teacher by the name of Dawei. When he spoke Chinese it was as if he was a native Chinese and not an Australian. Unfortunately though, my studies have been in spurts due to other commitments throughout the years. Fortunately for me though, I will continue to pursue it until I have mastered it.

I would definitely be interested in studying at the Confucius Institute to enhance and refine my learning. As one of the objectives of the Confucius Institute is to promote higher learning, this will definitely benefit students and professionals alike in ensuring their learning is of the best standard. Many non-natives have mastered this difficult language and it is very inspiring to know that while this language looks complicated, anyone can learn to speak like a local.