A Kenyan student listens to a guide describing the old town of Zhoucun in Zibo, Shandong Province on February 10. Photo: IC

Studying sociology and tourism at the prestigious University of Nairobi could have assured any Kenyan youth of landing a job a few years back. However things aren't the same today.

"My mother dissuaded me from learning French or German as an additional course as many Kenyan youths do to enhance their chances of getting the elusive job. She advised me to instead choose Chinese. The rising presence of Chinese investors in the country made her urge me so," Lin Ngina, a fourth year student of linguistics at the university, told the Global Times.

Beatrice Mutua, another Chinese Language student, said she picked Chinese because of her friends. "They never hesitated to switch from speaking English into Chinese every time they met. I felt left out of my friends' circles," she told the Global Times.

Just like many other youths across many African nations, Mutua believed studying Chinese will give her an added advantage over people who only know English, Kiswahili and the mother tongue.

For Noel Masinde, now in her second year at the university, Chinese is more appealing than French or German given that she aspires to be a communicator. She believes that as an additional language, Chinese will help her advance her global outreach.

According to experts, as the demand for Chinese language steadily grows, so does the number of centers that offer the course.

New trend

George Magoha, professor and vice chancellor of the University of Nairobi, told the Global Times that the growing number of Chinese deals and business operations in Africa (China is currently the continent's biggest trading partner) has spurred this trend.

All over Africa, the number of Chinese citizens is on the rise, but unlike Westerners from the US or Europe, Chinese in Kenya, as elsewhere in Africa have shown that they are serious investors given their sudden dominance of the construction, real estate and business sectors.

"Familiarity of the language has simply grown to be the new thing," Magoha said.

According to Boniface Makokha, an education expert in Nairobi, the growth of the Chinese language in Kenya and the rest of Africa has not followed any known paradigms.

"There is no single government in Africa that has officially incorporated Chinese into the national educational curriculum," he told the Global Times.

However, that has not prevented the spread of the language, as colleges and universities have decided to fill the gaps that the government should have. "Private initiatives are leading governments in spreading the Chinese language, albeit as an extra-curricular activity," said Makokha.

Lack of teachers

The flip side of this is that there are neither formal teachers nor accredited locally developed teaching materials.

Instead, what most of these colleges do is hire Kenyans who have recently returned from China, or the few who studied the language earlier.

Those with means, however, hire native Chinese to teach as well as decipher the rich culture of China to the eager locals.

A few other Kenyans who study in China encourage their fellow citizens to get interested in studying the language, as the example of Mercy Kamare shows.

According to Kamare, her cousin, who is studying medicine in China, often sends her materials, DVDs and other books encouraging her to deepen her understanding of China and the language.

Efforts by the Chinese government have also come in handy. The government has shown a determination that might see Chinese soon become officially integrated in some national educational curriculum.

Professor Sa Dequan, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi, said that in the past few years the institute has endeavored to offer quality training courses, diplomas and bachelor's degree programs.

It is the first institute of this kind ever established in Africa. More than 1,000 students have been trained in Kenya through the institute since 2009.

Required talents

Experts say the number of people and institutions seeking to either learn Chinese or partner with the Confucius Institute is on the rise.

Brian Opondo, head of communications at Kimberly College, Nairobi, said that the interest in the language is driven by the recognition that the Chinese economy is growing at a tremendous rate and that the growth has enormous implications for global trade and politics.

Koki Khadoi, founder of Kendel Language Aid, a private firm that offers translation, interpretation and foreign language tutoring in Nairobi, advises that learning foreign languages is a profitable venture. Chinese is by far the most sought after among Kenyan youth, she added.

"A look at the pace at which people from China are coming into Kenya, Ethiopia and any other African countries is enough to convince any person that Chinese will soon be the vogue," said Koki.

She added that her firm is being overwhelmed with requests from people and organizations that need either short-term in-house training or language clinics for their staff who either plan to visit China for business or want to translate for Chinese businessmen in Kenya. "All of those who finish their lessons get taken up by companies as soon as they finish."

The ability to speak another main language in addition to English is a great selling point in today's world as a Chinese-speaking interpreter and a bilingual secretary with the same skills are at the top of the salary range in not only Kenya, but across other African countries, said Gitau Ragu, a Nairobi-based marketer.

Susan Mwangi, a language instructor at Kimberly College, said that she now earns more after learning Chinese.

According to Mwangi, the government's stated policy to "turn East" may have also contributed to the rise in interest in the Chinese language over the last few years.

The greater interaction between China and Africa has also moved interest in the Chinese language a notch higher.