Confucius Institutes short of teaching materials: expert
Confucius Institutes around the world are now facing a short of teaching materials due to lack of translators and channels for publication and sale, said Xu Lin, director of the Confucius Institutes Headquarters on Sunday.
Compared with Germany-based Goethe Institute and Spain-based Cervantes Institute, Confucius Institute is lagged behind in aspect of providing effective Chinese teaching materials, Xu said at the closing ceremony of the 4th Confucius Institutes Conference.
She explained that both the Goethe Institute and the Cervantes Institute have their typical teaching materials such as The Sorrows of Young Werther and Don Quixote. "But Confucius Institute do not have any kind of this material."
"Confucian Analects, for example, the most famous masterpiece by Confucius, has not got a translated version that is translated by Chinese and is accepted by world readers," Xu said.
Currently, a total of 282 Confucius institutes have been set up around the world, and there are about 40 million Chinese language learners.
In addition to Confucius Institutes, China also launched Air Confucius Institute based on the network of China Radio International in 12 countries. Confucius Institute online also kicked off in 2008 and even since has attracted over 10 million clickers from 149 countries.
Considered as a channel of spreading Chinese culture around the world, the Confucius Institute is also a demonstration of China's rising soft power, Xu said.
"We should make further researches on how to launch Chinese classes in primary and middle schools in local communities, and how to help foreigners learn Chinese culture," Xu added.
Confucius Institutes Conference started in 2006. This year's conference attracted about 1,000 delegates from China and 87 countries and regions.