Learning Chinese has broadened Ghanaian student's horizon

Ignatius Suglo started learning the Chinese language by accident, simply because his school offered it. But immediately, he realized that it was not as difficult as he thought and decided to move on with it.

Now, Suglo, a graduate of Ghana's premier University of Ghana, has won the Special Prize for the overall best position in the Chinese Bridge Competition as a student, and represented the country in the worldwide Chinese Bridge competition this year.

The "Chinese Bridge" Competition is a large-scale international contest sponsored by Confucius Institute Headquarters, and is well- known in the cultural and educational exchanges worldwide.

It aims to prompt the enthusiasm of students in various countries in learning Chinese and to strengthen the world's understanding of Chinese language and culture.

With the Chinese name Yi Xiu, Suglo went into the world competition in Beijing with much hope, entered the top 10 list and finally won the second place among all the African students.

He was among the first batch of university of Ghana students to begin learning Chinese.

"Looking back after many years, I think it has paid off," he told Xinhua in an interview in Accra.

He believes learning the Chinese language has broadened his horizons especially on world affairs, and having studied with Chinese students, he has learnt a lot of their culture and that has given him a broader world view.

"Language is a gateway to learning the culture of a people," he said.

"I do understand Chinese people and the way Chinese people do their things and that has helped to have a broader world view because when I am doing something I don't look at it from a Ghanaian perspective but from a more multicultural perspective," he told Xinhua.

Suglo said learning the Chinese language and taking part in the Chinese Bridge competition for that matter have opened a lot of good opportunities for his personal development, after meeting more people and making more friends all over the world.

"Personally I have a broader world view and I have many friends because for instance going for that particular competition, where 127 people from 57 countries and we still do keep in touch. I think networking-wise it has been very rewarding," he said.

To Suglo, Ghana and most African nations have a lot to learn from China's ability to perverse its culture over thousands of years.

"Culture is unique. We have our culture but right now almost no one remembers exactly what we stand for and exactly what our culture is. So I think like the Chinese we could go back and pick our culture and really teach it to our younger generation so that we can also have something to boast of."

Almost daily, Suglo meets many high-ranking people in the Ghanaian society just because he speaks Chinese and he has been of immense help to most of them.

Suglo plans to go back to China for his Masters Degree program.

He has a word of advice for the Ghanaian youth:

"I will like to encourage the youth to take up learning languages seriously; no matter what language it is. Language is a tool that you can always use at any circumstance. You don't know where you may find yourself tomorrow."