On 16th August 2018, a Mandarin course opens for National Housing Development Co. Ltd. (NHDC) in the conference room of NHDC. Mr Naraindra Kistamah, Mauritian Director of Confucius Institute at University of Mauritius and Mr Tan Xudong, Chinese Director of CI-UoM attended the opening ceremony in the company of the CEO and staff of NHDC and the Chinese teacher of CI-UoM.
NHDC is a state company and its main mission is to construct houses for low-income families. The company works collaboratively with Chinese construction firms which employ Chinese engineers and workers on various sites. The two parties often face some difficulties in communicating instructions on and off the work site owing to language barrier. Misunderstanding may happen as a result of the inefficient communication between Mauritian engineers/technical staff and Chinese engineers/workers. At the request of NHDC and based on the specific demand, Confucius Institute at UoM has customized a Mandarin course for the staff of NHDC.
The Mandarin course is designed to last for 15 weeks at the rate of three hours per week. The course covers four aspects of the communication, notably (i) common terms used in contracts, (ii) general words/terms used on the work site; (iii) technical terms for construction and; (iv) common words used in daily life. All the participants are from the front line of the company, and they hope they can, at least, communicate a bit with Chinese engineers at the end of the short course. There is a possibility of extending the short course, if necessary.
Plate 1. The two CI-UoM Directors (right) addressing the CEO of NHDC, Mr J. F. Gilles L’Entete (centre) in the company of three staff of NHDC (Civil Engineer and Quantity Surveyors).
Plate 2. Group photo of the launch of the Mandarin course at NHDC; left to right: Mr Zhao Liang (Leo), Chinese Teacher; Mr Naraindra Kistamah, CI-UoM Director; Civil Engineer and two Quantity Surveyors of NHDC; Mr J. F. Gilles L’Entete, CEO of NHDC; Ms Aumelina Bissessur, HR Officer of NHDC and; Mr Tan Xudong, CI-UoM Director.