双语环球：汉语引领墨西哥孩子未来(图)

　　Alberto and Maribel, sixth-graders at an elementary school in central Mexico, introduce themselves to each other in Mandarin Chinese. Their class also recites numbers, clothing items and weather conditions in a language that, to them, is about as foreign as it gets。

　　Some, like Damaris De Luna Sanchez, 11, move their hands the way a conductor directs an orchestra, slicing through the air to help them reach the proper intonations. Their enthusiastic teacher, Gerardo Saucedo, is not Chinese nor has he ever traveled to China, but he has long been fascinated by its language。

　　The sight of youngsters speaking Chinese in the Mexican heartland is unusual, to say the least. Parents told that pupils as young as 9 would be taught Mandarin had been skeptical. But savvy Mexican politicians have other ideas. State authorities launched the pilot language program in Aguascalientes, a working-class city, in hopes of jumping on the Chinese bandwagon。

　　For many years, Mexico had lagged behind other big Latin economies, like Brazil and Chile, which saw China displace the United States as their principal trading partner. China spent an estimated $100 billion in Latin America in 2008, but Mexico had only a small piece of it. Mexico was the last of the major Latin countries to sign free-trade agreements with Beijing。

　　The city fathers of Aguascalientes are among those who want to take advantage as a model for all of Mexico. "It's like what happened with English," teacher Saucedo said. "Years ago we didn't study English, but eventually we realized we had to. Now it's Chinese."

　　But they still met with problems. Saucedo, 28, studied Chinese for four years in a university program. The first year, he recalled, the class started out with about a dozen students, but all except for him dropped out by the end of the term. "It is a very, very difficult language," he said。

　　Remarkably, this is not the endeavor of an elite academy, nor the work of a Chinese-government cultural institute. Most students come from low-income families and single-mom homes. "It makes these students more competitive," Saucedo said. "Sooner or later, there will be more Chinese companies here, and that means more jobs. If the Chinese see we have Chinese speakers, it will be a big advantage for them, and for us."

　　墨西哥中部地区一所小学里，六年级学生阿尔伯托和马利贝正用汉语普通话作自我介绍。他们班上的同学还用这门“外语”练习关于数字、服装和天气情况的说法。

　　有些孩子，比如11岁的桑切斯，则像交响乐指挥家一样手臂在空中摇摆着，帮自己掌握汉语的声调。热情的老师赫拉多不是中国人，也从没去过中国，但一直对汉语痴迷。

　　在墨西哥内陆腹地学汉语的青少年以前绝对少见。家长们对孩子们9岁起就学汉语也表示怀疑。而精明的墨西哥政客可不这么想。政府部门在工薪阶层为主的阿瓜斯卡达特斯启动了试验外语教学项目，希望推广汉语教学。

　　多年来，墨西哥经济一直落后于巴西和智利等拉美大型经济体。在这些拉美国家，中国已取代美国成为主要贸易伙伴。2008年，中国在拉美的投资达1000亿美元，而墨西哥只吸引了很少一部分，而且墨西哥是最后一个与北京签署自贸协议的拉美大国。

　　阿瓜斯卡达特斯市的领导人希望从发展墨中关系中受益，并成为全国的典范。赫拉多老师说，“多年前墨西哥人都不学英语，后来才认识到不学不行。现在轮到学汉语了”。

　　但说起来容易，做起来难。索斯多，28岁，在大学里面学习汉语已经四年了。他回忆道，第一年开始学习的时候班里有12个学生，可到了学期末除了他其余人都不再学了。“汉语太难太难了，”他说道。

　　值得一提的是，这里的汉语教学并非针对精英学校，也不是中国政府文化机构努力的结果，这里的学生大都来自低收入家庭或者单亲家庭。赫拉多称：“学汉语会让这些学生更有竞争力。迟早会有更多中国公司到来，这意味着更多工作机会，如果中国人看到我们会讲汉语，这对双方来说都有好处。”