FROM CHINA TO CATALONIA
A long linguistic trip
By Artur Vidal and Isabel Minguell (translator)
Barcelona, Spain
According to Idescat sources, Catalonia lately has “Teaching Catalan to Chinese
experienced the insertion of about one million
people has given us an insight
people from different countries worldwide and in
consequence, a new pluri-lingual society has to the problems Chinese
emerged. A unique experience in the world as students have to face when
regards the number of people who have arrived learning a foreign language.”
within such a short period of time. Moreover, we
should also take into account our situation here, memory-based following an authoritarian ap-
where Catalan is a co-official minority language proach, and that followed by those who have only
living together with Spanish, along with the known the Catalan system offering a very up close
process of a linguistic immersion, which started in and personalised treatment. The main difference is
the 80s and has now reached another dimension. that some students have to learn to write using
the Latin alphabet. This process is called “Pinyin”,
This model of linguistic immersion was inspired on
which is taught only in some schools in China.
other models (such as the one in Quebec, Canada)
Only schools where English is taught teach
to face the arrival of immigrants from the rest of
“Pinyin”. These are normally private or state
Spain who did not know the native language,
schools located in non-rural areas. “Pinyin”: Hànyǔ
Catalan, and enrolled in the Catalan education
Pīnyīn) is the official system to transcribe Chinese
system as of the 1940s (the end of the tragic
characters into Latin script.
Spanish Civil War).
Being both students of English and teachers for a
Now, the arrival of new learners who come from
long time has given us both the experience of a
all parts of the world accounts for about 300
teacher and a learner. And, on the other hand,
languages, according to Carme Junyent (1) from
teaching Catalan to Chinese people has given us
Grup GELA. Out of this group, in this article, we
an insight to the problems Chinese students have
will focus on the arrival of 47,743 Chinese people
to face when learning a foreign language.
and, more specifically, on an area created for
them called “aula d’acollida” or foster classroom, With Chinese students learning Catalan and/or
which serves the purpose for this linguistic Spanish, we deal with some specific traits. The
immersion in a progressive period of coexistence, main characteristics of Chinese students include:
going from six months to two years for those
1. Being Mandarin or Putonhua the most spoken
languages considered remote.
language in their country, despite the
While the Chinese community has as a common existence of more than one hundred other
standard language, Mandarin Chinese (北方話) or languages, they tend to use Mandarin as it is
puntonghua (普通话) (Sinotibetan family) spoken the official language in China. This fact is
by 1200-1300 million people around the world,, reflected on the way they see Catalan as not
China’s linguistic magma encompasses an being as useful as Spanish.
important group of other languages such as Wu
2. Chinese students are self-conscious. That is to
(吳語) spoken by 77 million people or also mǐn
say, they are afraid of making mistakes so,
(閩語 ) spoken by 70 million in addition to many this prevents them from communicating
different dialects (many students come from fluently in other languages with other people.
qintiang, zhejiang province popular republic of
china, including as many dialectical variations from 3. Most of the times these students are
whezou or wenxi). responsible for passing on both the new
linguistic and cultural codes to their families.
This article deals with the learning process of
They are also in charge of translating a way of
Chinese people who learn Catalan and/or Spanish.
understanding the world which is very
First of all, we have to consider the difference
different from theirs.
between the language learning process of those
Chinese students familiar with the Chinese 4. Last but not least, we have to bear in mind the
education system, which is very demanding and enormous linguistic and cultural gap between a
NZALT Polyglot, No 37, 2012

Sino-Tibetan language and a Latin Roman one. important to be in contact with the language you
are learning as much as possible. Some ways of
To understand the learning process and its
doing this include: interacting with native speak-
characteristics better, let’s have a look at this
ers, watching foreign TV channels, attending
theoretical background which is based mainly on
speaking corners, having speaking partners,
The Common European Framework and Elizabeth
listening to the radio, travelling…
Coelho’s book (2).
We must accept that we live in a multilingual
To start with, we would like to say that to achieve
society. An example of this, as we have stated at
knowledge learners should concentrate on five
the beginning, is Catalonia where today 250
skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing and
different languages are spoken. So, in this sense,
interaction. The main aim when learning a foreign
all teachers should speak different languages to be
language is to get a linguistic competence
able to cope with this reali-
enabling learners to speak
in an everyday situation.
“Learners need a certain ty.
emotional predisposition To conclude, a brief sum-
We should take into ac-
towards the language they are mary of the main ideas
count two main factors
when learning a language.
learning.” about the learning process
Chinese people follow when
According to Sebastià Ser-
learning Catalan. Language learning is based on
rano (3), these factors comprise 30 per cent
four elements:
intellectual capacity and 70 per cent emotional
aspects. 1. Methodology: Being used to learning by heart
Chinese characters (any competent Chinese
On these grounds, who could be considered a
writer knows about 1500) in Catalonia they
good learner? A good learner is a person who can
are faced with the fact that the Latin alphabet
obtain enough information intake or input, and
has only twenty-six letters and a grammar
attitudes and motivation that do not interfere in
that is very different from theirs and thus,
this input.
much more complex.
When learning a language another important
2. Emotional aspects: Learners need a certain
factor is the methodological patterns which are as
emotional predisposition towards the language
follows: we should work on speaking, use activities
they are learning. In the case of Chinese
that foster both teacher-student and student-
students, we must be aware of their cultural
student interaction, develop and encourage
and linguistic self-consciousness. It has been
positive attitudes, relate speaking and writing, use
shown that to be able to learn a foreign
a lot of visual aids, select material carefully and if
language one should have overcome what is
possible, use authentic material.
called “migratory mourning” as defined by
In addition to this, it is also vital that classroom Joseba Achotegui: leaving their grandparents,
teachers understand the difference between social their uncles, their friends, their landscape,
language and academic language acquisition. Here their sky… Leaving all these to go to a country
is a simple description of BICS and CALP (4) as they haven’t chosen. It is their family who has
theorised by Jim Cummins: imposed this transnational project on them.
 BICS stands for Basic Interpersonal Com- 3. Family language: The importance of keeping
munication Skills. It is based on what learning the family language or native language to
is about in the first two years: Speaking improve and motivate the learning of new
competence, conversation face to face, languages. This keeping and improvement of
concentrating on the now and here, familiar the family language is normally carried out
content, everyday vocabulary, language in outside the classroom within the project called
contexts with lots of aids, relaxed atmosphere. “Educational plan for urban contexts”. On the
other hand, it is also true that these families
 CALP stands for Cognitive Academic language
enrol their children in Chinese schools on
proficiency. It would be after five or seven
Saturday mornings or even the whole day
years: very abstract language, more distant in
where they use traditional teaching metho-
time and space, less familiar contexts, more
dologies imported from China in most of the
specific vocabulary (more topic-related),
cases.
language with little context, more demanding
atmosphere. 4. Usage. To improve the use of a language, we
When we are learning a language we should target must raise the families’ and the students’
the five aforementioned skills. But also it is very awareness about the importance of having a
NZALT Polyglot, No 37, 2012

good knowledge of both the native language, Besides, students who have Chinese as a mother
Catalan, and the co-official language, Spanish tongue or other dialectical Sinotibetan variations
to get through both the secondary school show some specific traits that will be analysed in
degree (ESO), vocational training or univer- depth in further articles and which Lluïsa Gràcia
sity. The use of the language can be enhanced started describing in her work Xinès (5).
by means of linguistic partners, reading tutor
(an older student helps a younger one with Artur Vidal is an LIC which stands for Language,
reading), “cicerone” (guide) programme Interculturality and Social Cohesion advisor from
(where the older teaches and shows how Departament d’Ensenyament of Generalitat de
students work in the classrooms here), Catalunya.He has been a secondary school teacher for
improving the language during breaks… more than 20 years. He now works as a teacher trainer of
language methodology to primary and secondary school
All in all, from the beginning of the establishment teachers. He has contributed to some books about
of the foster classroom by the Departament Catalan language and litetature.
d’ensenyament (Department of Education) we Isabel Minguell has been an English teacher for adults for 25
have seen that the learning process of primary years. She works at the Official School of Languages of
and secondary students requires three to four Barcelona where she teaches upper-intermediate and
advanced levels.She has also taught English for specific
years to achieve a remarkable linguistic compe-
purposes at Ramon Lull University and Universitat Autonoma
tence that will enable them to follow the learning of Barcelona. She is highly interested in cross-cultural
process of the students in an ordinary classroom. awareness and Asian culture.
Link to bibliography
NZALT Polyglot, No 37, 2012