Cuba introduces Chinese language course into secondary education

[Judi Lynn]

Luis Chirino
Luis Chirino@FromHavana

Published March 24, 2022 at 3:41 PM

The Cuban Ministry of Education announced earlier this month it would begin a Chinese language course in secondary schools.

For Cuba, it’s a first part of an accord the two countries reached to improve cultural and educational ties.

CGTN’s Luis Chirino reports from the Cuban capital.

https://america.cgtn.com/2022/03/24/cuba-introduces-chinese-language-course-into-secondary-education

[Irish_Dem]

1. This is how it starts.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Nice. Learning other languages is always good.

It's a huge shame that in this country kids don't have the opportunity to learn another language until high school. In most of Europe, they start in grade school, and by high school have learned two or three languages aside from their native one.

I have a good friend who grew up in a home where on his mother's side they all spoke Italian, and so he learned that language from day one. Later on he took Latin, French, and German. In college he had a girl friend from Puerto Rico, and so picked up Spanish. After, he joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Malaysia, where he learned that language.

I love it when he visits me or I visit him, because invariably when we are out some where I'll turn around and he's speaking to someone in one of his several languages. Honestly. He visited me here in New Mexico a few years back, and I caught him speaking Malay at one of the local tourist sites. Really. Malay. In Northern New Mexico.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. I came back from a trip to China in the early 90's and told my wife the same thing.

Our kids ought to be learning Mandarin. Because China was going to be a commercial powerhouse in the Oughts and Beyond.