Dec.16,2010
December 8, 2010, Professor Hong Lijian, the director of the Center for Chinese Studies in Monash University, delivered an excellent speech named “International Chinese and the Language Policies Applied in Australia” to the graduate students who major in Teaching Chinese a second/foreign language. Professor Huang Jianbin, the director of International Centre for Chinese Culture, hosted the lecture.
During the lecture, Professor Hong stated the relationship between language, nations and countries from the angle of “language as politics”, stressing that language is closely relevant to state management and future development. He introduced five stages of Australian language’s development, presenting his opinions towards each stage. He made an objective analysis of Chinese teaching in Australia and other countries and reaffirmed the importance of practical teaching experience. He defined the notion of International Chinese from the fields of cross-cultural language study, cultural fusion, and language contact, calling on language researchers to look at the richness and difference of Chinese in various regions and societies, looking into the bright future of internationalized Chinese education. The lecture broadened students’ international horizon. Then, the graduate students discussed with Professor Hong on many questions concerning International Chinese.
Monash University is a famed institution in Australia, enjoying a high ranking. Professor Hong, who majored in English, was graduated from Wuhan University. He also obtained his Ph.D. on the study of Thought History in Institute of Social Science of Australian National University. At present, he is the director of the Center for Chinese Studies in Monash University, the president of the Academy for Chinese Language Teaching at Australian universities, and the chief editor of the <Chinese Studies Review>.
(Translated by YANG Liu)
