Taiwan on Saturday opened a branch of the Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning in Heidelberg, Germany, which is the country’s second such facility, to teach Mandarin language courses to adults.

Established by the German branch of the Distinguished Citizens Society of R.O.C., an overseas Taiwanese group, the center will join the other branch in the city of Hamburg to promote Mandarin, particularly in central and southern Germany, the society said.

The Heidelberg school, which now has six teachers, gives Mandarin courses to adults two days a week, it said.

During the opening ceremony, center director Yang Mei-fang (???) also thanked both Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) and the Taipei Representative Office in the Federal Republic of Germany for helping to establish the center.

As part of its plan to support and collaborate with established Mandarin language schools overseas, the OCAC worked with various groups to open 18 such centers in the United States and Europe last year.

Fifteen of the schools were in the U.S., with three others in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

The OCAC said it plans to open more centers in Europe this year, in countries including Austria, Ireland, Sweden and Hungary.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel