ABSTRACT

Against the backdrop of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the number of educational migrants from the member states, particularly African international students, has dramatically increased over the past decade in China. Much of previous research on international student mobility (ISM) and its ensuing language learning has exclusively focused on the East-West flow of students and their investment in English, while ignoring the emerging atypical ‘South-South’ migration pattern and rise of Chinese as a global language. Engaging with interviews with 59 African international students, I trace their ways of thinking and approaches to Chinese language learning which strongly resonate with practices of ‘linguistic entrepreneurship’, as each of them demonstrate self-responsibilisation and constant self-development, while suffering a growing sense of linguistic insecurity. This article debunks the myth of English as the sole language for socioeconomic success, while making a unique contribution to theorising the previously under-recognised value of the Chinese language with the changing global matrices of power.

摘要

在中非合作论坛和“一带一路”倡议背景下，近十年来，成员国教育移民特别是非洲留学生数量急剧增加。此前许多关于国际学生流动（ISM）及其随之而来的语言学习的研究都只关注学生的东西方流动及其对英语的投资，而忽视了新兴的非典型“南南”移民模式和华人的崛起。一种全球语言。通过采访59名非洲留学生，我发现他们的汉语学习思维方式和方法与“语言创业”实践产生强烈共鸣，因为他们每个人都表现出自我责任和不断的自我发展，同时遭受着日益增长的语言不安全感。本文揭穿了英语作为社会经济成功的唯一语言的神话，同时为在不断变化的全球权力矩阵中理论化先前未被充分认识的汉语价值做出了独特的贡献。