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Increasing numbers of Dubai residents are learning Mandarin or simplified Chinese.

Increasing numbers of Dubai residents are learning Mandarin or simplified Chinese.

The number of non-Chinese students are growing. 

But she felt losing the battle with her sons, Erik, 10, and Victor, 8, who talk, play and fight in English. Chuang and her husband William lived in the US, UK, and Canada for 12 years before moving to Dubai. 

“I was concerned about two boys. It's a weird feeling when they complain or feel that learning Chinese characters is difficult. Language is our link to our roots,''
Chinese has more than 80,000 characters, with around 3,500 in common use. 
Beginners at the centre start with Pinyin – Roman letters representing Mandarin sounds - before they are taught how to write Chinese ideograms. 

For non-native speakers, these practices are helpful for listening and speaking Mandarin, said Chuang. 

Nicola Scott, a UAE resident for eight years, started with Mandarin with a group of adult learners. Her son, who asked her to learn with him, fired up her interest in the language. 
“At the beginning, we were only learning ‘Pinyin', the Romanised form of the Chinese characters. But my son's exams were approaching and he had to dedicate his time to his studies and stop. I had enjoyed the lessons and so decided to carry on,'' said Scott. 

Pinyin, however, was not enough. 

“It was only when I started to learn the characters did I truly fall in love with the language. The Chinese characters unlock a true insight into the culture and the people - this is what has engrossed my interest,'' said Scott, who visited China three times in the past two years.