As China's global influence increases, more and more people are taking up Chinese classes, in all parts of the globe. One of them is Ijeoma, a multi-lingual student and teacher in Nigeria who CCTV's Susan Mwongeli went to meet.
This is Ijeoma. Her Chinese name is "Zi Nan." We caught up with her, as she was going for a lecture at the Lagos University. She is both a student and teacher of the French language.
Zi said, "I teach French language, I come to work every morning by 8 o'clock, I sign my name, I have a period of time about 40 minutes to an hour when I teach, I take the Junior classes, I teach the French language."
But Ijeoma or Zi Nan not only speaks French, as a foreign language, she has also studied German. And now she is learning Chinese, with the hope of traveling to China in the future. She is currently enrolled at the Confucius Institute in Nigeria. The Institute is among many throughout Africa that offer classes in the Chinese culture and language.
"My name is Zi Nan, I love to study Chinese."
Confucius institute teacher Yang Xinying said, "To give her a name Zi Nan, Zi means the color purple, Nan means the south,. Her home live in the south, Zi Nan giving the impression that is a very elegant, very quiet girl."
Zi Nan hopes that studying Chinese will help open up opportunities for her.
Zi said, "I am going to learn Chinese is because that Chinese is very important in world now. I have potential for languages, I feel Chinese language is the language I should learn, also I expected to work in UN, and Chinese language is one of most used language in there."
But in her quest to learn Chinese, Zan has faced various challenges. One of them is that Chinese is markedly different from other languages like French, English or German. But this is a challenge she has quickly overcome and hopes that very soon she will be able to speak Chinese like a native.
