“Hello,” “hola,” “hallo” and “konnichiwa” represent the degrees that the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures currently offers, but there is a language being reborn this fall at Eastern.

Dr. Florain Presig, the chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, is hopeful about the Chinese class starting this fall. He said that a previous program was available briefly, but was discontinued because of low enrollment and budget cuts.

Without funding from EWU, Presig said the department, “is funding this class using money generated by our concurrent enrollment program with the high schools from the Spokane region.”

There are 24 students enrolled out of a 25 limit meaning that there is an open chair available for the taking. Professor Chiu-Hsin Lin will teach the class from 12:00 p.m. to 12:50 p.m., Monday to Friday. She was the professor who taught this class previously and helps with the Chinese Conversation Club.

Because of the increasing number of exchange students enrolling at EWU, I would like to see a strong student interest and much-needed invigoration of this program. This will give students pursuing Chinese for future career goals a leg-up as they continue their academics or venturing into the world after Eastern.

Olga Baron from the Office of Global Initiatives estimated that Eastern will host 70 Chinese foreign exchange students this year.

She made it clear that learning Chinese is a profitable language for those who wish to study abroad. There are scholarships available for those who already know the language; with China being a country that many don’t study in finding scholarships should be easy.

Making this more enticing, Eastern has partnerships with colleges in China making a starting point for students studying abroad.

With China’s status as a major global competitor, people who are fluent in Mandarin will have a leg up as they look for employment opportunities.

So let’s start saying “Nǐ hǎo.”