Learn languages to diversify career opportunities, students urged
STUDENTS in the country have been advised to learn different languages to enable them fully exploit the expanding labour market in and outside the country.
The call was made in Dar es Salaam recently by the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Confucius Institute Director, Prof Xiaozhen Zhang while speaking to students from Baobab secondary school.
The students of Baobab visited the Confucius Institute to learn about the institute’s activities, Chinese culture including business, food, dance, clothing and various sports.
Prof Xiaozhen said that to know more than one international language is an asset that places an individual on the advantageous side when seeking employment or planning to self-employ.
“If a person is conversant with languages of other countries it becomes an added advantage because it enables them to land jobs easily. 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,” Prof Zhang said. According to Prof Xiaozhen, other graduates land a job as interpreters.
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 offer scholarships to Tanzanians to study Chinese, including sponsoring them for summer camps to see the culture of their country.
Prof Zhang said that the institute teaches Chinese in six schools, adding that efforts are being made to convince other schools to teach Chinese language subject.
The secondary schools that teach Chinese under Confucius coordination include Baobab, St Mathew, St Christina, and Isango.
However, she said that they are still waiting for the government’s response so that they can go ahead to teach the language 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 Xiaozhen.
On her part, a Form One Student from Baobab Secondary School, Grace Raphael said she is learning Chinese 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 an interpreter at big companies or embassies,” she said.
Eliazari William, a Confucius Institute graduate, who is currently a Chinese teacher at Baobab school, said considering the fact China is the second largest economy in the world knowing Chinese will help individuals to put themselves in a good position economically.
