Chinese communication class coming in spring

By Adam Brand, Staff Writer

Next semester the college will offer Chinese for Communication with Intro to Chinese being the enrollment prerequisite.

The expansion of the Chinese program at OCCC is important, said part-time Chinese Professor Ashlie Wilhelm.

Wilhelm said, since China is becoming the largest producer of products for Amer-ica, learning Chinese is becoming very important for businesses.

“Chinese is difficult to learn, but not impossible,” she said. “None of my students have said it is impossible.

“Classes here compete with four-year institutions,” she said, referring to the quality of education students receive at OCCC,

In conjunction with the expansion of the Chinese program, Wilhelm said, the World Languages and Cultures Center opening in the spring will allow students to watch television from China via satellite.

Wilhelm said there will be books and magazines written in Chinese in the center to help in the learning process.

She said she hopes the Chinese program expands even further in the future with the possibility of a mastery certificate in Chinese. Wilhelm said she also would like to see the program become preparatory for a four-year institution.

OCCC Vice President Felix Aquino stressed that learning a foreign language is becoming increasingly necessary.

“China is the fastest grow

ing nation in the world,” Aquino said. “Foreign language is extremely important to learn.”

No second-level Vietnamese courses are currently being offered in the spring.

However, Aquino said, OCCC also will continue to offer Intro to Vietnamese in the spring.