Mandarin Training Center (MTC; ) is one of the world's oldest and most distinguished programs for

Chinese as a second language Chinese as a foreign or second language is when non-native speakers study varieties of Chinese, Chinese varieties. The increased interest in China from those outside has led to a corresponding interest in the study of Standard Chinese (a type of ...

study. It is run by

National Taiwan Normal University National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU; ), or ''Shīdà'' is an institution of higher education and normal school operating out of three campuses in Taipei, Taiwan. NTNU is the leading research institute in such disciplines as Education and ...

(NTNU) in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

and located at NTNU Daan Campus.

History

MTC was founded in 1956. It was briefly known as the Center for

Chinese Language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

and Culture Studies from 2002 to 2004. The center attracts students from all parts of the world to Taiwan to study the

Mandarin language Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

and literature. Students also have access to courses in

Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held in high este ...

Chinese martial arts Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

, and

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

and

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. Courses are offered in three-month quarterly terms throughout the year. This system enables international students to engage in intensive language study during their summer breaks and within single semesters. The MTC sponsors travel, hosts speech contests, and stages workshops and performances. In September 2016, NTNU and the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

launched the Office of Global Mandarin Education at the university.

Enrollment

Over a thousand students from over seventy countries enroll for studies each year at the Mandarin Training Center. Nations represented include Australia, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Kenya, South Africa, the United States, Canada, and countries in the Middle East and in Central, and South America and the Caribbean. This international presence makes the Shida neighborhood of Taipei one of the city's most cosmopolitan. Since 8 April 2013, people unable to attend MTC have ha
MTC Online
on the Internet as an option. The center's alumni association, the MTCAA, has been in existence since 1998.

Notable alumni

* Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky - Hungarian sinologist * Richard Bernstein - American journalist *

March Fong Eu March Kong Fong Eu ( Kong; March 29, 1922 – December 21, 2017) was an American politician. She was a member of the California State Assembly and went on to serve as Secretary of State of California. Early life and education Eu was born March ...

- American politician *

Andrew Fastow Andrew Stuart "Andy" Fastow (born December 22, 1961) is a convicted felon and former financier who was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation, an energy trading company based in Houston, Texas, until he was fired shortly before the c ...

- former CFO of

Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compani ...

Howard Goldblatt Howard Goldblatt (, born 1939) is a literary translator of numerous works of contemporary Chinese (mainland China & Taiwan) fiction, including '' The Taste of Apples'' by Huang Chunming and '' The Execution of Mayor Yin'' by Chen Ruoxi. Goldblatt ...

- American literary translator * Imre Hamar - Hungarian scholar of Chinese studies *

Ryutaro Hashimoto was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politi ...

- former

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Sta ...

Jon Huntsman, Jr. Jon Meade Huntsman Jr. (born March 26, 1960) is an American businessman, diplomat and politician who served as the 16th Governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the Ambassador of the United States to ...

- former United States Ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1993, and China from 2009 to 2011 * Koichi Kato - former government minister of Japan * Pierre Ryckmans - Belgian-Australian writer, essayist and sinologist *

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

- former Prime Minister of Australia * Chie Tanaka - Japanese model and actress * Richard Vuylsteke - President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong * Stephen H. West - American sinologist * Pierre Marsone - French sinologist

References

External links

Mandarin Training Center

Mandarin Training Center Online

{{Authority control 1956 establishments in Taiwan Educational institutions established in 1956 Academic language institutions Language schools in Taiwan Schools of Chinese as a second or foreign language National Taiwan Normal University

History

Enrollment

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links