France’s second Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning (TCML) opened in Paris on Saturday and will focus on promoting Taiwanese style mandarin learning and Taiwanese culture in the European country.
The new center was inaugurated at L’Encrier Chinois situated in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the area’s Chinese language school since 2005.
Taiwan’s top envoy to Paris, Wu Chih-chung (???), and Deputy Minister of Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) Hsu Chia-ching (???) both attended the opening ceremony.
Hsu, who is making the first overseas trip by a senior OCAC official to Europe in two years, told CNA that the center, founded by Taiwan’s government, offers not only mandarin Chinese courses but also serves as a platform for French people to learn about Taiwanese culture, democracy and freedom.
Hsu departed Taipei on March 31 and is visiting Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland, England, Austria and Hungary until April 20.
L’Encrier Chinois Principal Lin Shu-ling (???) and her husband Jean-François Panis told CNA that they founded the school in 2005 with only 22 students.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, their school had been attended by as many as 380 students.
Unlike the simplified Chinese taught in China, Lin said their school teaches students using the traditional Chinese characters used in Taiwan.
More and more students are beginning to study at their school because they want to learn traditional Chinese characters, Lin said.
OCAC started to open TCMLs in September 2021.
As of today, 45 TCMLs have been established around the world, including 35 in the United States, two each in the U.K, France, Germany, and one each in Austria, Ireland, Sweden, and Hungary, according to OCAC.
Through Mandarin courses and cultural activities, the centers seek to foster cultural exchanges, popularize Mandarin learning, and deepen the relationship between Taiwan and the general public in their host countries, OCAC said.
France’s first TSML opened at the “Association Linguistique et Culturelle Chinoise” (ALCC) located in the commune of Noisy-le-Grand in September of 2021.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel