介绍:
In today’s podcast, Caixin looks at a school in Cambodia that teaches Chinese as a second language.
If the global linguistic landscape is changing, one primary school in Cambodia is doing its part to embrace the Chinese language.
From 1994 to 2011, China accounted for 20 percent of the total US$ 40 billion worth of investment projects approved by the Cambodian government. In some ways, the shift in trade ties has paved to way to a closer sense of social involvement between the two countries, as reflected in a bilingual Mandarin school in Phnom Penh. Founded in 1915 by a group of overseas Chinese businessmen from Guangdong, the Duanhua school caters mainly to the ethnic Chinese community. The school boasts more than 16,000 students on its two campuses in the capital city and has seen its intake of ethnic Cambodian students account for 5 percent of the student population, up from 2 percent 10 years ago. Li Huiming, principal of the school said China’s growing economic strength has accelerated an interest in learning Chinese within the country. There is a large amount of investment in Cambodia from culturally-Chinese communities from Hong Kong to Malaysia, and the ability to use mandarin as a common external language for business communication can facilitate a student’s job prospects. In the past two years, Duanhua saw its enrollment rise by 700 students. China considers Cambodia an ally in Southeast Asia and has been an important economic booster of the country’s economy in recent years as its largest foreign investor.
For Caixin Online, this is Diana Bates.
位于柬埔寨首都金边的端华学校，是目前东南亚最大的华人学校，有100多个班级，招收了1.6万名5岁到17岁的学生，其中，约有5%为当地的高棉族。
校长李辉明告诉财新记者，中国国力和影响力的提升是学校发展的原因之一。他说明，“找工作比较容易，也能找更高级的工作，比如工程和银行。来（柬埔寨）投资的多是华人，无论是来自大陆、香港、台湾地区还是马来西亚，他们都讲华语。”
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