Newsletter No. 91

CUHK Newsletter No. 91 19th June 1996 3 T e a c h e r o f E u r o p e an L a n g u a g e s R e t i r e s t o L e a r n M o r e a b o u t E u r o p e W hen Dr. Dirk Dethlefsen, chairman of the Committee on European Languages, responded to the advertisement by The Chinese University of Hong Kong for a lectureship in German Studies some 20 years ago, he probably didn't think that he would still be in Hong Kong a decade later. 'My expectations then were very vague,' says Dr. Dethlefsen. 'My wife and I had never been to Asia but I looked forward to the job opportunity.' He has ended up living in Hong Kong for nearly two decades, building his academic career and raising his children here. In fact he is still living in the same flat on the University campus he moved into 20 years ago, where he and his wife sometimes share with colleagues and students what they like much — cooking and eating. Both also indulge in the old- fashioned pleasure of reading fiction. Mrs. Dethlefsen is a keen reader of English novels. She also works part-time in the University teaching German as a foreign language. At weekends and during holidays, the Dethlefsens enjoy swimming or hiking in the New Territories. Dr. Dethlefsen is due to retire on 31st July. For him, retirement means 'to retire from one way of life in order to get to know other things'. And among these 'other things' is reacquainting himself with Europe, his home continent. The Dethlefsens have visited Europe occasionally but it takes time to 'rediscover' it, as Dr. Dethlefsen puts it, especially considering the dramatic changes that have taken place there over the last few years. 'My home country, Germany, has been reunited. We have been to Eastern Germany a couple of times, but only on short visits. It's still a sort of terra incognita for us. We want to get to know the people and the new situation there. Besides,' he continues, 'the territory of former Yugoslavia has changed drastically after the war. We spent four years in Belgrade when I was a visiting lecturer at Belgrade University, so we are very keen to see what's become of the country.' Dr. Dethlefsen also plans to read more French literature, which he believes he has so far neglected in favour of German and English literature. Having taught for a quarter of a century, he welcomes the change made possible by his retirement. Reflecting on his years at the University, Dr. Dethlefsen says he has met many devoted and talented students of European languages. He points out that it is not easy to master the language of their choice as these programmes are still offered as minor and elective ones at the University, with only three contact hours per week for language instruction over three years. (It was four hours per week for four years before the reduction of the period of undergraduate studies.) This, Dr. Dethlefsen says, greatly limits the framework of teaching and learning, as also the chances to organize activities outside the classroom in order to build communication skills. He finds the situation deplorable as it 'diminishes the pleasure of pursuing a subject of personal interest, and undermines an important condition for language acquirement: sufficient time and some leisure.' Viewed another way, this also means that graduates who are good at the language of their choice must have invested a lot of extra time and energy. Their teacher takes his hat off to them saying, ‘I want to express my gratitude and respect for the sheer diligence and devotion of some of my students. It has been a pleasure to introduce them to something off the beaten track.' Dr. Dethlefsen is pleased that before his departure, the draft of a minor programme in European Studies is at last being finalized, and, if all goes well, will soon be endorsed by the Faculty Board of Arts and the University Senate. The programme, which will comprise courses on the politics, culture, and economy of all the member states of the European Union, is expected to be introduced in the academic year 1997-98, after five years of planning. Dr. Dethlefsen believes that the complexity of the subject matter requires opening the programme as a major, which was the original plan. However it is likely that the University will decide to open it as a minor programme initially due to financial considerations and the uncertainty of student response. According to Dr. Dethlefsen, Europe as an area of study is gaining prominence worldwide. The opening of borders and the unification of the two German states has raised interest in the political, social and cross-cultural developments in the continent. This is reflected in the fact that around 18 countries, including Japan and Korea, have set up study associations focused on Europe. Locally, the European Union has opened a representative office, the Office of the European Commission, in response to the growing awareness that the European Community is an important trading partner for Hong Kong. At the University, Shaw College organized a well-attended Festival of Europe in March this year. For the European language programmes currently offered at local tertiary institutions, Dr. Dethlefsen believes they should no longer be kept at a rudimentary level. To quote him, 'Multifarious relations between Europe and Hong Kong are on the increase, and Europe is a continent of multilingual states and societies. Day-to-day dealings with European partners have shown that English as the only medium of communication is not enough. The demand among Hong Kong students to learn French, German or Italian is obvious and well-founded.' He also points out that tertiary institutions in mainland China have been offering full-fledged programmes for all major European languages for many years with the support of the respective countries and their cultural institutions. He looks forward to fruitful cooperation between the European language departments in China and the Committee on European Languages at the University in the near future. However, one of the primary requirements of such cooperation is that the University agrees to strengthen its own language programmes. Dr. Dethlefsen will not be in Hong Kong to see the implementation of the European Studies Programme at the University, or the strengthening of the existing European language programmes, but the results of his hard work will be felt by many for years to come. Piera Chen NEW RESEARCH MONOGRAPHS BY HKIAPS G l o b a l C h a n g e a n d t h e C o m m o n w e a l t h Edited by Prof. Yeung Yue-man, director of HKIAPS and professor of geography, the book stems from a symposium held in 1994 on CUHK campus during the silver jubilee celebration of the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau. Towards the end of the 20th century, global change in its many facets is profoundly affecting people and countries worldwide, and tends to be polarized between developed and developing countries. Within the Commonwealth, the inconsistencies in development goals among member countries have become more pronounced. The rich variety of empirical experience and analytical diversity of Commonwealth countries, as presented in this volume, offers a challenge for humankind to aspire to a more sustainable future. The book is a major contribution to the understanding of the powerful and pervasive forces that have recently reshaped and redirected the world and its people. HKIAPS Research Monograph No.26 English, HK$200 N e w F r o n t i e r s o f S o c i a l I n d i c a t o r s R e s e a r c h i n C h i n e s e S o c i e t i e s Edited by Prof. Lau Siu-kai (associate director of HKIAPS and chairman of the CUHK Department of Sociology), Ms. Wan Po-san (research officer, HKIAPS), Prof. Lee Ming- kwan (Department of Applied Social Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University), and Prof. Wong Siu-lun (Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong), themonograph is a collection of 23 papers presented at the Chinese Conference on Social Indicators Studies in Chinese Societies held at CUHK in April 1995. The papers are grouped under five major themes: quality of life; confidence, identity and rights; employment, education, enterprise, and development; and gender, health, and psychological Care. Accompanying the rapid economic development and achievements of the four major Chinese societies — mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore 一 are many social problems. The conference provided an opportunity for the social science scholars of the four places to exchange their views on how to improve their societies through the development of knowledge of social indicators. The papers in the monograph, written in either English or Chinese, reflect on existing social indicators studies and compare the experiences in the four Chinese societies. They display rich experiences in development and applied social indicators systems, and have opened many new research frontiers. HKIAPS Research Monograph No.27 English/Chinese, HK$100