“Google Translate doesn’t do everything! »

On the blackboard, Shariffa Noordin traces ideograms with the tip of her marker. He highlights each of them and turns to the fifteen Kenyan students who occupy his classroom this September morning. In front of the teacher, the vast majority of girls and a few boys. They are all 15 years old and wear the red, gold-embroidered polo shirt of the elegant Brookhouse School in Nairobi. In front of them are open school textbooks in which it is written “Mandarin for Cambridge”.

The school, with old stone buildings and short lawns like a golf course, is located in the Karen district in the southwest of the capital. About 800 students attend it, a significant number of whom are Kenyans.

In the classroom, Shariffa Noordin kindly asks her students: “How do you say: “there are three horses”? » A student with very small braids answers correctly on the first try. “Who remembers the word “bird”? » Another hand raised and another correct answer. “Tell me: “it has five birds.” » Touch for touch, teenagers respond almost without guilt. The teacher nods, satisfied.

Today’s lesson is about measurements. Shariffa Noordin alternates between Mandarin and English. He explains that in Chinese “computer” is “electric brain” and that the language has no past, present or future. She switches to demonstrative pronouns. An hour later, class ends and the students disperse into the hallways. “More and more people are taking this course. In 2013, when the course was first offered, there were only two or three per class. Ten years later, there is an average of 18. The figure has multiplied by six”says the professor, head of the school’s Mandarin department.

private teachers

More and more young Kenyans are starting to learn Chinese. Long considered difficult, the language is no longer scary. “In 2011 there were few classes and very few students in the country. There were none in primary and secondary schools”explains Nobert Njoroge, founder of the Kenyan Association of Chinese Speakers, which brings together more than 700 members: “Today, Kenya has around forty primary and secondary schools. [enseignant le mandarin], with an enrollment of 30 children per class. There are more than 1,000 people. »

The Chinese presence has continued to grow in the country since the early 2010s. Four Confucius Institutes, cultural centers where Mandarin is taught, have sprung up on the campuses of major universities. Some 400 Chinese companies are established in Kenya and Nairobi neighborhoods, such as Kilimani, are partly influenced by the Asian presence. There are shopping centers with shop windows covered in ideograms and, in the lobbies of some hotels, the Chinese press is distributed every morning in the same way as the Kenyan newspapers.

“China continues to gain importance in business”notes Steve Wakoli, a teacher who teaches Mandarin to nearly 200 students: “Many Kenyan parents do business with Chinese and say it would be good for their children to learn Mandarin for their professional future. »

Not always able to take classes in the classroom, some Kenyans are embarking on online learning with private teachers. It was around 5:30 p.m. this Wednesday when Emmanuel (his name has been changed), 15 years old, connected to his distance learning course. Nicole Shitolwa, your Mandarin teacher, is now online. The young man’s voice is distant, a little shy. Every weekday, he takes an hour of private lessons after his classes.

“I want us to start by reviewing what you wrote. Share your screen”, the teacher asks. A text composed of ideograms appears, accompanied by images of dragons and pagodas. “Did you generate this with AI?” “, asks Nicole Shitolwa. “I just got it off the Internet” Emmanuel responds. The lesson begins and the child begins to read the symbols aloud, lengthening certain syllables, playing with intonations. Today’s lesson is about travel vocabulary. Sometimes Nicole Shitolwa interrupts him to ask him how to pronounce “spring”, “winter”, “summer” and “autumn” in Chinese. The child responds as best he can during class time. They will see each other again the next day.

Accompany tourists

Nicole Shitolwa has four other students she teaches remotely. “I have other requests but I don’t have time. » At the school where he works, nearly 400 students already take Chinese classes because, he says, “Many want to work in information technology and video games.”

Rising construction sites and increased Asian tourism also offer employment opportunities for Kenyans who are fluent in the language. Amos Aloo, a teacher, occasionally works as an interpreter on construction sites. “They ask me to translate, for example when I have to install a machine and the instructions I have to pass are technical”explains. “A misinterpretation can cost thousands of dollars.”adds Nobert Njoroge. A good interpreter, in addition to knowing the language, must master the context and culture. »

Amos Aloo also occasionally accompanies Chinese tourists to the Masai Mara or Amboseli national parks. “They don’t speak English very well or at all, and Google Translate doesn’t do it all! » For this type of work he charges between 14,000 and 19,000 shillings per day (between 96 and 131 euros). Significant amounts when three quarters of the Kenyan population earn less than Sh50,0000 a month.