Mandarin is widely spoken across the world and in India

 

the Chinese are rushing to learn English because they are lacking behind by only one matter which makes them to put a step back in economy and other things ,so English learning teenagers are increasingly large numbers, Bangaloreans are showing some interest in learning Mandarin,the analytical skills are more in Indians the service sector is gradually increasing in India by IT and other banking services so to learn local languages of other country is essential to rule the world perhaps not on the same scale. No surprise, considering Mandarin is widely spoken across the world and there's enormous interest in China. 

The catch is, there aren't many teachers around. Bangalore University, for instance, is holding out, thanks to an intelligence officer whose work necessitated him to learn Chinese. And he is all of 79 years. 

The CBSE had announced the introduction of Mandarin for students from Class VI last week, but this is easier said than done. For, it's a herculean task to find trained teachers. 

Sample what Bangalore University is going through: two guest lecturers to teach the language to its 30-odd students. One of them is B S N Rao, the intelligence officer who happened to learn Chinese for official purposes, while the other is Swaminathan, a former student trained by Rao to teach the basic level. 

Rao learnt the language because he was working with a branch that dealt with people speaking Mandarin. When posted in the Nicobar Islands, he had the responsibility of interacting with fishermen from Malaysia and Taiwan, who used to enter Indian territory. He attended a two-year course offered by the School of Foreign Language under the ministry of defence. 

"When I said I wanted to learn Mandarin, my friends laughed at me. There were many other languages like Persian, Arabic and Italian that were taught. But I was in a branch that dealt with Chinese. Moreover, the institute was in Mysore, and a blessing in disguise for me to get back home in Bangalore," said Rao. 

After retirement, Rao worked with a private firm for a few years. Realizing the demand for the language, he started teaching privately. "I saw the news of Bangalore University starting Chinese courses two years ago. I called up the office just out of curiosity, to know who was teaching. They had then not got any faculty. Six months later, I got a call, asking whether I could join them," Rao recollected. Today, teaching Chinese is a passion for this veteran. Rao teaches the written and spoken form to students on weekends, most of who are corporate employees. 

Bangalore University introduced the course two years ago. There are a few other private institutes as well that offer the course. "Rao's entry was a bit of luck for us. If not for him, we would not have been able to start the course. Now, we are contemplating introducing the third level," said Jyothi Venkatesh of the department of foreign languages, Bangalore University.