Colombians join in celebrations for UN Chinese Language Day

The UN Chinese Language Day was created by the UN to pay tribute to Cangjie, a mythical figure who is credited with having invented Chinese characters around 5,000 years ago.[Photo/Xinhua]

Through the network of Confucius Institutes in the country, Colombians are joining those in other Latin American countries to celebrate the United Nation's Chinese Language Day on Wednesday.

Colombia has three Confucius Institutes, two in Bogota at the Los Andes and Jorge Tadeo Lozano universities, and one in Medellin, tied to the EAFIT and Antioquia universities.

Marta Ferro, coordinator of the institute at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, told Xinhua that Colombians are increasingly keen on learning Chinese.

"The growth has been incredible in the last three years. We are seeing annual growth of between 80 and 90 percent. Over half of our classes are for students in our university and half for others," explained Ferro.

She also feels that the Confucius Institutes in Colombia have encouraged the country's students to travel to China as "classes also serve to understand Chinese culture, the teachers also discuss history and culture, which creates enthusiasm. Forty-five of our students have already been to China to take part in summer camps."

One of the students in the institute, Karen Marin, who is studying marketing and Chinese, said "it is very enriching to learn Chinese as we are used to learning other languages, like English. At the same time, we also learn a lot about Chinese culture. The most difficult thing until now has been studying characters, but I enjoy it."