Bulletin Spring 1979

teaching Mandarin to Cantonese speakers, the instruc­ tors would have to te ll the students the differences o f the point andmood o f articulations between retroflex in itia l consonants and sibilant dentals. Moreover, students o f different nationalities have different pro blems in Chinese pronunciation because their mother- tongues are not the same. Instructors, therefore, should be able to solve the problem o f each student. The d ifficu lty o f second-language teaching does not lie in pronunciation alone. Instructors have to answer semantic and syntactical questions as well as explain the cultural background in language usage to students. It sounds odd to westerners when we use "N i chil e Fánle ma?” （你吃了飯了嗎）or "N i Dào Nar Qù? " (你到那兒去）as greetings rather than " H i! " ( 喂 ）or “ How are yo u? "( 你好嗎），and students may ask such questions as "Why do you have two ‘le's ?" ， "Does it make any difference if the second 'le ' is deleted ?" ， etc. If an instructor does not know precisely the role o f the Chinese “ adjective" in a sentence, he w ill be unable to answer the question, "Where is the verb-to-be in simple descriptive sen tences like 'Wo mán g ' (我忙)； 'N ilèi ' (你累）； 'Ta gao' (他高)， etc.?". It is incorrect to say, "The verb-to-be is om itted", and students w ill not be satisfied w ith the answer, “ It is not needed in Chinese". It is essential for beginners to have a solid foundation in pronunciation and grammar.Vocabulary can be bu ilt up gradually. Instructors o f the Centre are well aware o f this and their teaching is oriented towards this goal. For intermediate and advanced level students, different techniques must be employed. "Listening→ speaking→reading→ w riting" is the fundamental sequence for teaching or learning a foreign language. "Reading and w riting" are in Chinese characters, which need special skills to teach because the Chinese written language is different from phonetic languages. The Centre offers two-year intensive courses in both Mandarin and Cantonese, on completion o f which a student w ill have acquired enough knowledge o f the Chinese language to perform his job in a specialized field. A missionary w ill be able to preach and read the Bible in Chinese; a diplomat to read Chinese news­ papers, magazines and documents (in both traditional and simplified characters) and sometimes to serve as interpreter and translator; abusinessman to deal with his clients in Chinese; a sinologist, to make use o f first-hand material in Chinese for further research. It is not d ifficu lt to seethat students' fields o f specializa­ tion are really diversified and that the instructors are required to have a fu ll working knowledge o f their native language and bevery knowledgeable to function as "Jacks-of-all-trades". Apart from teaching, instructors o f the Centre are involved in the compilation and revision o f teaching materials. They are also assigned as coordinators to 17