CD Voice | A new way to say "opportunity" in China

One of the difficulties in studying Mandarin is the variety of words for different things. Surely, many a student has thought: "I've already learned this! I don't need to learn a new word for it!"

Of course, this happens in other languages. Try asking about a bus in any Spanish-speaking country. The most commonly understood term is "autobus". But it helps to know the local lingo. There are at least 23 different terms for "bus", according to toalwaysspanish.com. In southern South America, you'll hear "colectivo". In Mexico, it's "camion", which also means truck. For clarity, make it "camion de carga", or cargo truck, to mean, specifically, truck.

In the Caribbean, you'll hear "guagua", pronounced wawa. Vans often used for public transport can be "micros", "combis", "chivas" or other words.

Because of the variety found in a language spoken by millions over a wide area, however, how do you evaluate a person’s ability in that language? One way is to test them on the "standard" version, often what's spoken in the tongue's mother country.

A different way is a test that does recognize and incorporate the variety of Spanish spoken around the world, and that test has now come to China.

The SIELE, which stands for the International Assessment Service for the Spanish Language, was developed in 2015. It is the first global, unified Spanish language testing system to evaluate and certify the proficiency level by digital means. The test stands alongside the older DELE, or Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language, based on European Spanish.

The SIELE was launched in China in November as part of an agreement between Tsinghua University in Beijing, the digital education division of the Madrid-based telecommunications giant Grupo Telefonica and Xuetangx, the biggest Chinese massive open online course platform in the world, launched by Tsinghua three years ago.

This is an important development for students in China who want to offer employers something different from English. Spanish, with over 400 million native speakers, is the second most spoken native language in the world, after Chinese.

With booming links between China and Latin America, it can be a valuable skill. One need look only at President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Ecuador, Peru and Chile, and the raft of business and cultural agreements signed there.

Also, the SIELE, launched in some 30 countries, is administered digitally at testing centers, and can be taken as a global exam, or its four main parts --reading, listening, writing and oral expression -- can be taken separately. It was created by the Instituto Cervantes, the 25-year-old nonprofit started by the Spanish government, which also is behind the DELE. 

The SIELE was created in cooperation with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of Salamanca of Spain and the University of Buenos Aires of Argentina.

The test is being given now at the Instituto Cervantes in Beijing. Additional centers will be available in 2017, mainly in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Get more information and sign up at siele.org.cn … and, buena suerte (good luck)!

About the author & broadcaster

Matt Prichard is a copy editor and writer who works on the front page team of China Daily. He has lived in China for more than four years, in Shanghai and Beijing. Before that, he had a 30-year career as a reporter and editor in the United States and Latin America. He has an ABJ from the University of Georgia and did postgraduate work at the Universidad Nacional del Sur in Argentina. He speaks Spanish fluently and is still learning Mandarin. 

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