AllAfrica.com – Editorial
“The Chinese say that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. At Makerere University at the weekend, another major step was taken with the formal opening of the Confucius Institute, dedicated to the teaching of Mandarin, the language of the Chinese people. This is an important development and more of us Ugandans need to embrace more languages than our mother tongues and English, the official language and medium of instruction. Languages, it has been said, are the key to the world; but not many of us have aggressively tried to acquire these keys with a view to unlocking the opportunities that the world throws our way from time to time…In an ever-more globalised world, parents and teachers need to encourage children to value languages as a matter of principle….It may be premature to say – as some already have – that the future is Chinese; what is certain is that the Chinese will have a much bigger say about that future than they have had about the past. With that will come opportunities; Mandarin – as well as other languages – does present keys to unlock such opportunities.”(more)