The Virtual Joint Conference of Confucius Institute Directors in Southern Africa was held on 29 April, 2022 and hosted by the Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe in collaboration with Renmin University of China (RUC-CIUZ).
The first Online Joint Meeting of the Local and Chinese Directors of 18 Confucius institutes of 12 countries in the region met and discussed how to face the challenges and opportunities brought about by the pandemic, and restructuring of Confucius Institute’s operations by headquarters (Hanban), and strengthen communication and cooperation among Confucius Institutes in Southern Africa.
In his opening remarks, the Vice-President of Renmin University of China, Prof. Du Peng, talked about the advancement of Confucius Institutes in Southern Africa, the growth in academic and cultural exchanges, and broader and mutual cooperation between Southern African countries and China. The Dean of Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Zimbabwe, Prof. Mangena Fainos talked about the challenges and opportunities in that part of the world which may be different elsewhere. He also spoke about the role of CI in bridging the language gap in Mandarin to access China and ameliorate people’s conditions. In the context of the global pandemic, Prof. Fainos talked about building of resilience of CI in the face of adversity, providing locally designed solutions to disruptions in teaching, and mobilizing resources for sustainable teaching and learning. He also mentioned the need to congregate regularly to share information and research results to enable ‘meeting of minds’ and provide solutions to community problems in the region. This process of integration into a global village may be achieved through persistent research collaborations between the host institutions in Southern Africa and the partnering institutions in China. An academic osmosis would thus be formed which, he said, can only be beneficial to local communities.
Professor Herbert Musangwe, former Local Director at CIUZ, talked about ‘Localisation and de-foreignisation of Chinese teaching materials: Zimbabwean experience’. He defined localization of teaching materials as the process of adapting the materials to a specific region with the aim of facilitating the learning process of foreign language such as Mandarin. On the other hand, de-foreignisation is a term used to describe a situation whereby a language loses its foreign status and sounds much more natural to the locals. He explained how localization and de-foreignisation may help the teaching and learning of Chinese language in Zimbabwe. He concluded by stating that the teaching of a foreign language such as Mandarin using English, which itself is a non-native language, may not be the best way forward. He believes that teaching Chinese language using Shona, a native language spoken by the majority, along with English would help learners better assimilate the learning of Mandarin language.
Finally, Professor Wu Lin, Director of Confucius Institute at Durban University of Technology, South Africa, discussed the topic ‘Exploring the innovative development of Chinese based on the work practice and experience’ and Dr. Zheng Tianhao, Senior Local lecturer in CIUZ, talked about ‘Teaching and Learning of Chinese Language during and post Covid-19: a CIUZ case study’.