Learn languages to diversify career opportunities, students advised

Tanzanian students have been advised to learn different languages to enable them enter the wide spectrum of the labor market.

The call was made in Dar es Salaam recently by the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Confucius Institute Director, Prof Xiaozhen Zhang while talking to students from Baobab secondary school.

The students of Baobab visited the Confucius Institute to get of the institute’s activities, learn Chinese culture including business, food, dance, clothing and various sports.

Prof Zhang said that to know more than one international language is an asset that will increase opportunities of employment or self-employment.

“If a person knows the language of other countries it becomes an added advantage because it will be easier to get a job. Take into account that the world has now become a village so knowing more than one language is an advantage.

We have graduates who studied Chinese here and now we have employed them, they are teaching Chinese, while others are employed in secondary schools that teach Chinese.

She said that there were also other graduates who got a job as an interpreter.

Prof Zhang said that Chinese is a field which does not have many competitors since there is a wide market.

She said the Institute will continue to provide scholarships to Tanzanians to study Chinese and also have a sponsor for a summer camp to see the culture of their country.

Prof Zhang said that the institute managed to teach six schools where they plan to continue to convince other schools to have a Chinese language curriculum.

The schools taken Chinese under Confucius include Baobab, St Mathew, St Christina, Isango and Rosemin.

However, she said that they are waiting for the government’s response so that can go ahead to teach in government schools.

“We have already written a letter to the Ministry of Education Science and Technology asking for our institution to teach Chinese in government schools,” said Prof Xion.

On her part, the Baobab form one student, Grace Raphael said she is learning Chinese and other languages because it is an international language and jobs are available.

“The Chinese language is known all over the world, so I’m studying so that I can be interpreter at big companies or embassies,” she said.

Eliazari William, a Confucius Institute graduate who is currently a Chinese teacher at Baobab school said that China has a history of world economy so knowing their language will help them to put themselves in a good position economically.