BEIJING: A group of seven Chinese students from Beijing Foreign StudiesUniversity’s Urdu Department will leave for Pakistan on August 28 for asix-month training programme to further enhance their Urdu languageproficiency.
“The students selected from a batch of 22 students currently studying Urduat the university will join National University of Modern Language (NUML),Islamabad to improve their Urdu language skills,” Head of Urdu Department,School of Asian and African Studies, BSF University, Zhou Yuan said.
“This activity will provide a chance to our students to not only enhancethe standard of Urdu language but also aware them more about Pakistan,people and culture,” she told.
Zhou Yuan, who has adopted a Pakistani name ‘Nasreen’ informed that the BFSuniversity had been teaching Urdu since 2007 and till now two batches ofits students have completed their degrees.
She said the current batch of students had been studying Urdu for last twoyears, adding, “We have recently organized an Urdu Dubbing Competition tofurther promote the Urdu language, Pakistani culture and society among theChinese students.”
Out of the rolled-out students, a few have got admissions on scholarshipsin foreign universities for higher education while some joined differentcompanies.
Zhou Yuan said many Chinese students are learning Urdu at differentuniversities and institutes around the country, including Beijing.
The reasons for learning Urdu vary. Some have been romanced by Pakistan’sculture, food and landscape; other by the beauty of the language itself.Yet, others see learning Urdu as a practical means of eventually workingwith Chinese companies carrying out different projects under theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework in Pakistan.
To cope with the demand, several universities in Shanghai, Tianjian,Kunming, Urumqi and Inner Mongolia are considering setting up Urdudepartments, Zhou Yuan said.
While sharing their sentiments prior to their departure, Wu Jiahao, who hasadopted Pakistani name Amber said that it was an honor to have theopportunity to study in NUML which was one of the best languageuniversities in Pakistan for one term, adding, “It will be an excellentopportunity for me to learn Urdu language and culture in NUML, and I’lltake a good use of the opportunity to become more proficient in Urdu.”
During the period of studying in Pakistan, she would listen to the teacherscarefully in the class and finish her homework after school, and also hopedto take a good use of the library resources of NUML, read more books andnewspaper in the original Urdu as much as she could, and expand hervocabulary while learning knowledge and news.
“At the same time, I think my oral speaking and listening will be greatlyimproved through the communication with local speakers in my daily lifewhen studying abroad,” she added. – APP