After 30 years of reform and opening up to the world, Ningbo, with its superior geographical advantage, policies and regulations, has attracted a large number of foreign capital enterprises. By 2011, the number of foreign capital enterprises reached over 5,000, and 399 enterprises of the world’s top 500 enterprises have branches in Ningbo. With the rapid development of Ningbo’s economy, more and more foreigners are flooding into Ningbo. Since July 2008, the teachers and students from the School of Foreign Language Studies of Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University (SFLSNIT) have been interacting with foreigners in Ningbo and have since, interviewed more than 700 foreigners from over 50 countries, to have a better understanding of their life in Ningbo.

This year, from 2nd to 22nd July, the students at NIT conducted a research themed ‘Growing with Ningbo’, to explore and evaluate the development status of foreign enterprises here and the problems that small and medium-sized foreign capital enterprises face. Through this research, the students came to understand that the level of interest in learning Chinese amongst foreigners has increased, as they constantly face the challenge of communicating with local people.

About 90% of foreigners interviewed said that they are willing to accept help from Chinese volunteers and three quarters expressed their great interest and enthusiasm for taking Chinese lessons.

This research has revealed various reasons why foreigners are pursuing Chinese lessons. Firstly, foreigners living in a foreign country really want to be able to communicate well. Fluent communication can help to increase their quality of life.

‘SUN SURF’ surfboard company's Marketing Manager Mike, who is from the US said, ‘I think it is very important to be able to speak and understand some Chinese. I do not like watching a TV programme without understanding the diaologue. I try to use English to communicate with people, but few people understand me. It is important to learn Chinese and I hope in time, I will be able to communicate well.’

Secondly, learning Chinese can improve their work efficiency. The General Manager of ‘SUN SURF’ Jeff, who is also from Australia said, ‘Sometimes even the translator cannot fully convey my message. I want to learn some Chinese, even if it is only some professional business terms, in order to improve the efficiency of our commercial cooperation.’

Thirdly there are the culture differences. Fadelo is from the Middle East, and is currently working in a Hong Kong international company. He said, ‘Some Chinese employees are shy, too shy to even refuse work which they know they cannot complete. If I were to know some Chinese language and Chinese culture, the situation may be different.’

To address their research findings and to meet the growing demands, SFLSNIT and Ningbo Centre for International Cultural Studies decided to conduct complimentary Chinese courses for all foreigners living in Ningbo.

Professional Chinese teachers will give oneon-one lessons on frequently used words in daily Chinese dialogue, Chinese business terms and in understanding Chinese culture, in order to help foreigners improve their Chinese conversational ability, adapt to Chinese culture and improve their quality of life in Ningbo. For students at NIT, the complimentary Chinese courses have given them an opportunity to participate in social services and improve cultural exchanges.

By 20th September 2011, more than 23 foreigners had enrolled in the complimentary Chinese courses, with 45 college students enrolled in the Chinese teaching volunteer team. There are four Chinese teachers with two of them having overseas experience teaching Chinese and 16 foreigners have already begun taking personal lessons.

For more information on how to apply for complimentary Chinese courses at the School of Foreign Language Studies of Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, please email cccnit@163.com.

Written by Sun Siwei & Lin Hong Supervised by Cai Liang Translated by: Cici Chen

服务城市建设：浙大宁波理工学院“公益汉语课堂”应运而生

改革开放 30年来，宁波以其优越的地理优势和完善的政策法规吸引了大量的外资企业。到2011年，各类外资企业数量达到 5000多家，世界500强企业中有399家在宁波设立分公司，其中不乏一些有国际影响力的公司，涉及领域包括服务业、工业制造业、航海业以及其他新兴产业。伴随着经济的发展，越来越多外籍人士选择宁波作为生活和事业的起点。

自 2008年 7月以来，浙江大学宁波理工学院外语分院师生开始关注和研究在甬外籍人士，四年来实践活动“用声音叙事”通过问卷调查、随机访谈、深度访问等形式采访了 50余个国家近 700位外籍人士，旨在了解他们在宁波的生活工作现状，为宁波国际化城市建设建言献策。今年 7月 2日到 22日，浙江大学宁波理工学院外国语分院师生进行了本年度的“用声音叙事” 实践调研，主题为“与宁波一起成长”，旨在探索在甬中小外资企业的发展状况及其面临的主要问题。调研通过对外籍人士的访谈展开，以外籍人士的亲身经历叙说外资企业如何在宁波实现不断成长。活动参加者在调研外资企业发展现状时发现一个有意思的现象，那就是在甬外籍商务人士的汉语学习热情高涨。通过问卷分析，活动发现，被调查的所有的外籍人士，均承认与人交流存在一定的困难；约有九成的外籍人士，愿意接受汉语志愿者的语言帮助；约有四分之三的外籍人士，表示想参加汉语辅导班，以提高自己的中文水平。根据调研分析，外籍人士的汉语学习的热情高涨主要有以下几个原因：

首先，外籍人士身在异国他乡，内心充满交流的渴望，而顺畅的沟通和交流有利于提升外籍人士的生活品质。来自澳大利亚“SUNSURF”冲浪板公司的市场部经理MIKE说：“我希望交流，而不是每天对着看不懂的电视傻看。我努力试着用英语和他们交流，结果很少人理解我。我想懂点汉语对生活交流很重要。”其次，提高工作效率也是汉语学习的一个重要因素。澳大利亚“SUN SURF”冲浪板的总经理JEFF表示：“合作方的负责人以为明白了我的意思，其实他没有，就算是翻译有时也无法完全传达我的意思。我想自己懂点中文，哪怕仅仅是专业术语也可以提高商贸合作的效率。”同样引人重视的原因是文化因素，因为中西方文化差异可能会给外籍人士带来一系列误解和困惑，Fadelo来自中东，目前就职于香港达文奇国际有限公司，他在接受采访时表示：“一些中国员工总是比较腼腆，不擅于交流更不好意思拒绝，因为文化差异 ,所以常常害羞地接受了无法完成的任务,结果自己痛苦不说 ,还影响了工作进展 ,如果我自己懂点汉语和中国文化的话,情况可能会大为不同。”

针对以上现状，和“用声音叙事”活动四年来对在甬外籍人士汉语学习需求的分析，浙江大学宁波理工学院外国语分院、宁波市国际文化研修中心提出了开展“公益汉语课堂”的构想。此项公益性活动是基于“教育服务城市”的理念，面向在宁波工作生活的外籍人士，遴选汉语与英语表达能力强，热爱推广中国文化的同学参加，由专业对外汉语教师指导和培训汉语教学方法，然后采用“一对一”的形式为外籍人士义务提供汉语辅助，主要内容包括日常汉语对话，商务汉语对话以及与中国文化体验学习。“公益汉语课堂”帮助外籍人士提高汉语表达能力，更快适应中国文化和宁波生活，这对外籍人事本身以及企业的长期发展都非常有益。对于学生而言，“公益汉语课堂”创造机会让学生们利用专业知识参与社会服务，这对增强大学生民族文化自豪感和自信心，促进文化交流意义非凡。

截止2011年9月20号，有30多外籍人士报名参加“公益汉语课堂”，45名大学生报名参加汉语教学志愿者队伍，项目指导教师三人，两位具有海外对外汉语教学经历。11名外籍人士开始了一对一的“公益汉语课堂”项目学习。汉语志愿者根据外籍人士的不同汉语程度水平，制定不同的教学计划，配备不同教材，其中包括《快乐汉语》、《跟我学汉语》等，从而达到学习的持续性与教学针对性的结合。对于“公益汉语课堂”项目的实施与开展将有更多的后续报道,有意报名参加“公益汉语课堂”的外籍人士请邮件联系项目组：cccnit@163.com。