Learning Chinese is no easy task. Unlike Spanish and French, which use Roman letters as English does, Chinese has approximately 56,000 characters, according to the Chinese Software Guide Web site. The language also has four “tongues,” which means one word can have four different meanings, depending on the intonation and stress of the word.

Eric Chi, sophomore in engineering, was taught Chinese as his first language, but his parents still make fun of him when he performs the four tongues.

“There are four ways to say every single syllable in Chinese. If you speak in monotone, you’re kind of screwed because then you can’t communicate,” Chi said.

The difficulty of the language presents a great challenge for the Champaign Heritage Association, which is offering Chinese lessons to the Chinese immigrant children of faculty and graduate students. The main goal, however, is not to teach students how to read and write Chinese at high levels, but to teach a basic understanding of the Chinese language in order to create a basis for the future and maintain a sense of culture.

Chengjian Mao, the vice president of the Champaign Heritage Association, believes it is important that Chinese immigrant children retain their culture as well as adapt to American customs to maintain a cultural balance.

“I think the U.S. culture emphasizes individuality too much and the Chinese emphasizes community too much as well. So, we would like to teach both cultures, so when they grow up, they can contribute to society,” Mao said.

The Chinese lessons for this year began in mid-September and will continue for 11 weeks. Students, ranging from toddler-age to 15, meet at the Foreign Languages Building every Sunday for a 50-minute Chinese language lesson taught by Chinese immigrant graduate students in the College of Education. Students have the option of enrolling in the Mainland Chinese lessons or the Taiwanese system lessons and are placed in different levels depending on fluency. The classes are small, ranging from three to 10 students.

Jie Han, Mao’s 13-year-old daughter, appreciates the smaller Chinese class compared to the 20-30 member classes at University High School.

“I like the Chinese school better because the teacher actually pays attention to you and helps you a lot more,” she said.

Mao said the teaching style depends on each instructor with some being stricter than others. Mao believes that, as a parent, it is most beneficial to be laid-back.

“Some kids’ parents push too hard at home and the kids don’t like it, and once they’ve decided that, it’s very hard to get them to continue the language. My philosophy at home is not to push my kids too much,” he said.

Besides offering Chinese classes, the Champaign Heritage Association also gives kids the opportunity to interact with other students and get their creative juices flowing with an extracurricular program immediately following the Chinese lesson. The program offers art classes as well as Chinese chess lessons.

Mao believes it is valuable for Chinese students to play with one another and interact in the language in order to retain their culture in America.

“At first when we moved here, we were surrounded by white people and the kids were kind of isolated and reluctant to play with them. They thought to themselves, ‘I am a stranger, I don’t look like the other people,’ … but I think they begin to know their identity in this society. They realize they have a lot of Asian people here too, ‘Chinese people like me,'” he said.

The Champaign Heritage Association also creates a community for Chinese parents, conducting lectures twice a month and featuring Chinese movies.

“We teach parents about the U.S. culture like financing because most Chinese parents don’t really know how the system runs. They don’t have any idea about the retirement system, how to invest money or how to teach your kids because it’s different (from China),” Mao said.

The main goal of the program is to encourage kids to embrace their heritage as well as adapt to their new one.

“I think you can be proud you’re Chinese and, at the same time, you can be proud you’re American; you are Chinese-American. There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Mao said.