The Status of Chinese Language in the Philippines: With Special Focus on Grace Christian College

Zenaida P. Lumba

《華語學刊》 22期 (2017/06) Pp. 32-40

摘要

This paper aims to answer the question on the status of the Chinese language in the Philippines with a special focus on the teaching of Mandarin (華語) at Grace Christian College. While Mandarin is the national language in China as well as in Taiwan, in the Philippines the most commonly spoken language among the Filipino-Chinese (also known as Chinoy) is Hookien or Fookien or Amoy. This is because most of the Chinoy here traces their ancestry in the southern part of China, specifically in the Fujian (福建) province. Fookien continues to be used among the Chinoy despite the hundreds of years they have lived in the Philippines albeit at a decreasing degree. Studies show that there are two institutions that highly contribute to this: the home and the school. This theory has been supported by face-to-face interviews of Filipino-Chinese living in Quezon City as well as by readings on the history of China. A special focus is on Grace Christian College, a Filipino-Chinese educational institution that has seriously supported the teaching of Mandarin. Chinese language and culture is a part of the double curriculum of Grace Christian College so that when students graduate they receive two diplomas: one for English and another for Chinese curriculum.