On Learning a Language in Transformation: Two final year students’ experiences in Chinese complementary education

This paper is concerned with Chinese-Dutch children’s experiences with learning Chinese in the Netherlands. The paper presents basic facts about the Chinese language and its changing position in the world, a brief history of the Chinese diaspora in the Netherlands and the context of Chinese complementary education. It analyses two written accounts of final year students’ experiences with learning Chinese, focusing on the ways of speaking about Chinese in relation to identity and education. In conclusion, it is argued that the students’ experiences urge us to consider Chinese as a polycentric language – i.e. as a language with multiple and competing centres of gravity – and as a language in transformation.