Feature: A tale of two languages

Sitting in a bright classroom at Beijing Normal University (BNU), 20-year-old Florian Kollmeier explains how he ended up learning Mandarin.

"Providence," Florian Kollmeier, with his long hair carefully coiled into a Taoist-style bun, said with a chuckle.

"I had to choose between Mandarin and art for my International Baccalaureate," he said, "I don't know how to draw, so I thought 'Chinese it is then!'"

He never regretted that decision.

"Learning Chinese has really expanded my horizons and I have got to know so many Chinese friends, and I hope to share my experience of China with others, he said.

Kollmeier is on a one-year Chinese study program at BNU, which will end in June next year. He is one of some 50 students in China this year under a fellowship program run in partnership between the University of London and BNU.

This year, the number of exchange students almost doubled from 2014, according to Li E, Chinese director of the London Confucius Institute, a Chinese institute similar to the British Council.

Li said interest in the program was expanding steadily.

"It is subtle, but noticeable," Li said, adding that many British parents who sent their children to private school had privately expressed the hope that Mandarin could be taught at school.

Chinese was given the accolade the "language of the future" by British finance minister George Osborne, who last month announced a 10 million pound boost toward the teaching of Mandarin in England and Wales.

"We want more of our children to learn that great language Mandarin," Osborne said during a five-day tour in China in September.

In China, English regained popularity following the Cultural Revolution, and the reform and opening-up drive that started in the 1970s encouraged more Chinese to go study abroad and return to China.

Liu Wenyi, 59, was among China's first batch of English majors in the 1980s after the Gaokao, the make-or-break national college entrance examination, resumed in 1977.

Language resources were scarce then, and Liu had only his radio. Each morning, he would stroll around Harbin Normal University accompanied by the cadenced voices of of BBC and VOA news anchors.

Liu eventually became an English professor at his alma mater and he passed on his love for the language to his daughter.

His daughter, Liu Mu, founded Chinese Link Translations Ltd., a leader among the British English-Chinese interpretation firms.

Liu Mu was fortunate to have been exposed to English at an early age. Her father would read her English books and magazines and share stories from abroad following his overseas trips.

Not many of her peers were as fortunate, nonetheless, the Chinese enthusiasm for English persisted.

Since 1984, English has been a priority Gaokao test subject. Adults also must pass various English tests at work to be eligible for promotions, gain more qualifications and secure higher salaries.

English is also being taught to younger and younger students.

Eager parents wanting to give their kids the right start in life are enrolling their children into bilingual kindergartens. Elite elementary schools offer New Concept English courses and private institutions provide Cambridge English all over the country.

Lu Yisha from the central province of Anhui started to learn English nearly 20 years ago at the age of six. When she moved to Shanghai a year later, she was astonished to find that all her new classmates had already been studying the language for at least four years by then.

She said she had to study extra hard just to catch up, but added that she quickly fell in love with English.

"It is a beautiful language, very logical," the theatrical director, who is currently currently adapting William Shakespeare's "Alls Well That Ends Well" into a Chinese production, explained.

"Art and languages -- both could boost cross-culture communication and identification between Chinese and British youngsters," Lu said.

Kollmeier agreed, "Learning ancient Chinese allows me to better understand the Chinese people. It helps me capture the beauty and romance of China and the language," he said. Endi