Beijing Foreign Language Festival Attracts Students and Businesses Alike

Last weekend, the Beijing Foreign Language Festival took place in Chaoyang Park. The event, sponsored by the local authorities, gathered people from a variety of nationalities, all of whom shared the aim of making languages and language learning fun and easier by means of exhibitions, reading stories out loud, drama performances, choirs and many games.

Language Students Present

Established in 2002, the Foreign Language Festival attracts education agencies, language schools, Chinese foreign language students and international students alike. One of the students present asserted to a reporter from CCTV News that the games he played there helped him improve his English, which is the main reason why he has decided to come back to the festival next time. Zheng Dianzhen, a 77 year-old English student, commented that she first started learning the language for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but carried on after the event because it makes her feel a great sense of achievement.
A Brazilian international student, on his part, represented his country and language on stage, promoting typical Brazilian activities for everyone to join in. A Mexican student added that, with Chinese being such a fast-growing language, learning to speak it made getting a job an easier task.

Language Businesses Present

Chuchuyou Education Technology Company is one of the language-related businesses which made itself present at the festival. According to Liu Fenglei, the company’s manager, the Language Festival helps them promote their own products and show people how better to arouse children’s interest in languages (in this particular case, English). He further added that it also helps parents deal with the difficulties involved in language learning, and he admitted that the promotion of the products does not necessarily reflect an increase on sales for the company.

Other Activities

Among the other activities on offer, the attendees could enjoy the songs from the “Happiness Chorus”, which has learnt more than 100 songs in various different languages throughout the year. After the Foreign Language Festival closed on Sunday, the activities continued in other organisations and institutions around Beijing. Beijing Language and Culture University has invited 200 international students, coming from a variety of 31 countries, to represent their motherland and make their cultural origins available to all.