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UPDATED: January 19, 2012 NO. 4 JANUARY 26, 2012
Do We Need Another Chinese Proficiency Test?
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(LI SHIGONG) 

A new Chinese proficiency test, the Hanyu Nengli Ceshi (HNC), made its debut nationwide on December 24, 2011. The pilot run of the test was held at 13 venues on the Chinese mainland and 2,442 people sat the test. In the future, the test is likely to be held twice a year in more venues.

Different from the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) test, which aims to evaluate the Chinese language skills of non-native speakers, the HNC test is mainly designed for native speakers and is applicable to all who use Chinese in their daily life, for academic purposes or at work. Examinees were tested on their listening comprehension, speaking, reading and writing skills. Except for the writing part, the exam was carried out online.

The newly established test triggered a debate among the public. Supporters think Chinese people's mastery of their native tongue has been on the decline and the HNC test is the government's response to tackle this problem. A survey conducted by China Youth Daily shows that 83.6 percent of respondents think Chinese people's language proficiency is declining and 45 percent think it has declined to a large extent. Chinese students now spend a lot of time learning English. More and more foreign languages have already entered into Chinese people's daily lives and clash with the standard Chinese language. The organizer of the test hopes to rekindle the enthusiasm for learning Chinese in young people.

On the other hand, opponents think it will become another chance for some institutions to make money via exams. If employers use this certificate as a criterion for their job vacancies, it will give students more of a burden than they can handle.

Necessary

Zhang Shiping (news.sina.com.cn): For a long time, foreign languages have been making a strong impact on China's native language. That's why the HNC test steps in. We hope to improve the overall language skills of common people.

In the future government departments, companies or institutions can treat this as a vital preference for hiring people. The HNC is mainly designed for native speakers. Foreigners can choose to take the exam as well but they are not the main target when we first designed the exam.

Zhang Yiwu (Beijing Morning News): The HNC test has its own significance. Such a test can broaden people's horizons and increase Chinese people's familiarity with and proficiency in their native language.

After reading and writing in Chinese for a long time, many Chinese people may still not know for sure how good they are at using it. Although not perfect or not entirely accurate, the HNC test can be used as a point of reference. For instance, there are level tests for the game of go, piano and ikebana. People who are engaged in these activities can use the result of the exam as a reference to examine the current status of learning.

Language tests for native speakers are commonly seen in many countries. Chinese is a profound and complicated language that requires lifetime learning. Nobody should stop learning. The HNC test is a stimulus and benchmark when people want to see how good they are at the language after learning for a long time. So far, there haven't been any compulsory rules for the HNC certificate. The meaning of the test is encouraging people to learn Chinese in daily life.

Yin Weiguo (Tianjin Daily): It's really necessary to have this test designed for native speakers because of the declining of Chinese language ability. After a certain period of time I think it can be used for a compulsory course for all college students.

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