Cultural Ambassador

Zimbabwean linguist sees a major role for the Chinese language in africa

the Belt and Road Initiative has played a big role in promoting more people to learn the Chinese language in Africa, leading to the establishment of more Confucius Institutes on the continent. Experts believe this allows many African governments to incorporate and expand Chinese language and culture training with educational exchange programs between China and Africa. Statistics reveal that to date, Africa has a total of 54 Confucius Institutes, the non-profit public educational organizations affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education.

At the peak of this cultural wave of language learning, although Herbert Mushangwe, a distinguished Chinese speaker and teacher from Zimbabwe, was a product of his own trajectory before the Belt and Road Initiative was initiated in 2013, he has certainly benefited from its implementation. Born in 1981 into a family with deep Zimbabwean roots, Mushangwe grew up in the town of Masvingo, where he also attended and completed his primary and high school education. In 2007, he received a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree program in China at Tianjin Normal University. The program required him to learn Chinese first, since it was going to be taught in that language.

“During the first term of my studies, I found the Chinese language and culture easy and fascinating. I was so excited to learn a new language; I never felt embarrassed to speak Chinese during my first days,” he recalled. He said it was around this time that he was given the Chinese name Li Kaiming. “I was given this name because I refused the transliterated name Haibote (from Herbert). My Chinese teacher thought I was too open-minded, hence the name Kaiming,” he told Chinafrica.

The language of fate

Initially, Mushangwe didn’t set out to be a Chinese professor. “In 2008 when I discovered that my school did not have the actual program that I wanted to study, I applied through the University of Zimbabwe to change my program to the Teaching of Chinese as a Second Language program,” he explained.

Upon graduation from Tianjin Normal University In 2011, Mushangwe went back to the University of Zimbabwe to teach Chinese. One year later, he decided to pursue a PH.D. program on the Chinese language at Hebei University in Baoding in north China’s Hebei Province, which he completed. It was his enthusiasm and love of learning Chinese that ended up dictating the career path that brought him to rejoin the University of Zimbabwe where he currently teaches Chinese language courses. For Mushangwe, becoming a Chinese teacher is a validating experience and the saying “those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own (language),” rings particularly true for him.

He has produced books on learning the Chinese language in his country. “I’ve produced two critical books which are crucial to the teaching of the Chinese language in Zimbabwe. The first is a Shona-chinese dictionary and the second one is an introduction to Chinese characters from a Zimbabwean perspective.’’

Mushangwe’s fascination with Chinese led him to pursue a career in the language, but it is his job that allows him to give back to his country. “For the nation of Zimbabwe, I participated in the development of the Chinese language curricula for primary and high schools. I also developed the new Chinese honors program for the University of Zimbabwe.”

As a teacher in Zimbabwe, he is interested in contributing to the development of his country and wants to achieve this through language. He is dedicated to making the best of his time as a teacher. “I want the people of my country to be at the forefront of development. I believe that through teaching them the Chinese language, not only will it make Zimbabweans competitive in terms of exploring the Chinese market, but it will also increase the [financial] security of Zimbabwe,” he said.

as part of the Confucius institute and as a language expert, i have the duty to provide a platform to promote the Sino-zimbabwean relationship through training language experts as well as organizing workshops and conferences related to Sino-zimbabwean relations.