A large-scale series of Chinese language textbooks are to be published in the coming years jointly by the China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and Yale University, the first venture of this kind by a Chinese publication institute and a leading foreign university.

The set of textbooks, named I Speak Chinese, are expected to confirm the leading status of Yale and CIPG in Chinese language teaching publications and circulation in the world, said Richard Levin, President of Yale University, at the signing ceremony of the cooperation agreement held in Beijing on May 17th.

Expressing his confidence in the market prospects of the series, Cai Mingzhao, Vice Minister of the State Council Information Office and President of CIPG, said that CIPG and Yale are engaged to establish a unified and global brand in Chinese language learning.

This is just one example of the flourishing Chinese language textbook publication industry in the country boosted by the rising interest in the Chinese language among foreigners all over the world.

Global demand for Chinese

According to China’s Ministry of Education, more than 30 million foreigners are learning Chinese and over 2,500 universities in 100 countries are offering Chinese courses. Statistics show that the number of foreign students coming to China has increased by 20 percent in the past five years.

A report by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Chinese has become the second foreign language most spoken in the United States, after Spanish. According to a survey conducted by the Asia Society of the United States, students in U.S. kindergartens, high schools and universities are showing a “rapidly growing” interest in learning Chinese.

Europe is also seeing a wave of interest in people eager to dive into the mysteries of the Chinese language. In London, parents of most non-Chinese students studying the Chinese language work in the financial sector. They are aware of the impacts China is having on world markets and are making preparations to be part of the opportunities in the future, local observers said.

The London-based Hong kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. has invested a great deal of money since 2001 to fund Chinese language education projects in Britain organized by the British Cultural Committee. In a bizarre bout of promotion, British linguists are even advising their students, “If you want to be a future leader, learn Chinese.”

In France, the number of people learning Chinese is increasing. Currently, there are some 20,000 French learning Chinese. The annual growth rate of the training market of English, Japanese and Spanish is 2-4 percent, while the yearly growth rate for Chinese training is 38 percent. Even former French President Jacques Chirac is on record as saying that learning Chinese is a good language choice for the French.

The situation in Asia is even more astounding. Nowadays, young people in South Korea purportedly have to attain a certain command of Chinese if they hope to find a job in large organizations, even if they hold a doctorate from a leading U.S. university. Chinese is the most popular foreign language among South Korean students and an optional subject for the college entrance exams.

In Japan, there are almost 2 million people learning Chinese, and almost all of its universities have set up Chinese courses. Chinese is the second foreign language most spoken in the country after English.

In some less-developed Asian countries, Chinese is also making inroads. In 2004, China was Cambodia’s largest investor. Now, some Cambodians see Chinese as useful as English. An applicant with “fluent Mandarin” on their resume will often be chosen ahead of other candidates in the job stakes.

To meet the demand of Chinese language learning abroad, the Chinese Government has formally sponsored a not-for-profit Chinese language academy, named the Confucius Institute. As one of the most regular channels for learning the language, there are now 124 Confucius Institutes around the world.

With an increasing number of transnational companies either setting up branches or doing business in China, the need for Westerners who can speak Chinese and understand Chinese culture is growing rapidly.

A Siemens spokesperson said that speaking Chinese is a big plus for job applicants, especially in the client service area. “If our employees can answer questions in the mother language of the clients, we will win their hearts,” he said.

In many other areas, such as the investment service sector that sees a growing demand for foreign advisors who understand the Chinese and the global tourism sector, now in need of Chinese-speaking tour guides to keep pace with the increase in Chinese travelers abroad, the language is also an asset.

As a result, more and more foreign learners have sought to obtain a certificate on their command of the Chinese language before entering the job market. For example, when HSK, the official exam designed to test the Chinese proficiency of foreigners, was first held in January 2007 in Yantai, Shandong Province, over 30,000 foreigners sat for it.

Benefiting from language boom

This demand has meant that Chinese language textbooks and the publication industry as a whole have an enormous potential market.

Besides an increase in the number of books in Chinese oriented to foreign readers, copyright export business has been on the rise. The proportion of China’s book exports and imports has long been steady at a 10 to 1 ratio. But in recent years, the exports of copyright books published in China have been climbing, especially for Chinese language textbooks.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2005, the copyright export agreements between the Chinese delegation and foreign buyers reached 615, with an export-import ratio of 1 to 1.43.

Sensing this business opportunity brought about by the desire to learn Chinese, foreign publishers are knocking on the door to find ways to cooperate with their Chinese counterparts on textbook publications.

In the agreement, I Speak Chinese would be a multilingual series of Chinese language textbooks. Besides the print publications, CIPG and Yale will also be engaged in developing multimedia language teaching products and online teaching programs.

I Speak Chinese is mainly oriented to foreign enthusiasts of the language, especially students in universities and middle schools, or those who have a need to learn Chinese for career or travel purposes.

The two sides plan to publish the Chinese and English versions of the set of textbooks first and, in the following two years, hope to unveil related multimedia products.

As the largest publishing institution in China catering for foreign readers, CIPG has vast experience in publishing multilingual print and electronic products. The copyright export volume of the group exceeded all others in the field in 2006.

I Speak Chinese is the second initiative between CIPG and Yale. A decade ago, the two jointly published a series of books on Chinese culture and civilization, which were presented by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Yale University as a gift when he visited the United States in April 2006.