Ｊｏｙ ｏｆ Ｌｅａｒｎｉｎｇ Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ

Sri Lanka’s links with China are known to date back over two thousand years. One of the drawbacks of our colonial period was that our links with this great land were interrupted for a few centuries. However， “nothing is permanent” and the stage looks to being set for our future association to be forged even stronger than at any time in our past history. The Norochcholai Power Plant will， for instance， help towards containing the ever rising cost-of-living， when it comes on stream.

My first direct encounter with China was on an invitation extended by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) to several members of the Sri Lanka-China Society a couple of years ago. Although I had been to some thirty countries previously， the blend of ancient and modern civilizations and the hospitability we experienced on that visit made the Chinese experience rather special. Out of this grew a desire to know more about the language (or， at least， the principal form).

I recently learned that the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies was commencing a Beginners’ Course in Chinese and promptly enrolled.

The first thing I learned， when classes commenced， was that it is difficult to purchase Chinese readers and English-Chinese dictionaries in Colombo bookshops， so one is dependent on class notes and occasional peeks into Chinese readers obtained by fellow students from overseas sources.

The next thing I found in my first month (of nearly three so far) was that the initial steps were fascinating and not too challenging. We， also， encountered items which added spice to our studies. This included the intriguing discovery that the Chinese for father is “papa” and for mother is “mama”.

We have recently embarked on the more challenging task of memorising Chinese characters. A set target of memorising around one hundred characters by the end of the four month-long Beginners’ Course (of three hours per week) may appear formidable at first sight but we are making progress. The progress is accompanied in all the students by a sense of satisfaction， which is in direct proportion to the challenges overcome.

A sense of comradeship and identity has grown among the students and teacher in the class. It is likely that many of the students， who are of a range of ages and diverse interests， will continue on to the Intermediate and Advanced Courses. The course fees are well worth the investment.

This undertaking of learning Chinese has， to date， been a most satisfying experience. The study of Chinese is gathering momentum in countries around the world， including the United States. It is timely for Sri Lankans to take up the challenge， at least for pleasure if not for commercial and scientific and technological reasons. As Esther Tyldesley of the University of Edinburgh has noted in Collins Chinese Dictionary “Not only is it an absorbing and intriguing language， which can express both brutal frankness and extreme delicacy， it also brings with it great opportunities to explore and understand a country and (a) culture that is very different from that of the west”.

(This article was published in the commemorative book Sri Lanka-China Diplomatic Relations 1957-2007; Golden Jubilee Celebrations by the Sri Lanka-China Society in May 2007 and in The Island， a Sri Lankan national newspaper， on August 24， 2007.)

The author is a committee member of the Sri Lanka-China Society