Proficiency in Chinese offers enormous benefits such as well-paid jobs, cultural exchange programmes and travel opportunities for Ghanaians, Prof . OU Yamei, China Director, Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Coast, has said.

She was speaking to the Ghanaian Times in an exclusive interview at the weekend in Accra.

Prof. OU said there were fewer English-Chinese translators in Ghana and advised students to take the study and learning of Chinese seriously.

When asked whether the language was difficult to learn, she responded in the affirmative, and explained that all one needed to do was to study hard.

Prof. OU added that Chinese Pinyin is similar to the English alphabet, is not difficult to start learning Chinese, and some of the students in Confucius Institute at UCC can speak fluent Chinese within a year.

She told the Ghanaian Times that students who passed through her were doing well in the world of work, with some earning good salaries as translators and doing office work.

Prof. OU said there was a huge demand for Chinese translators by both foreign and local companies.

For his part, Yan Li Quan of Ghana Chinese News said Ghana was a preferred investment destination, attracting more Chinese companies.

He said the Chinese government encouraged Chinese businesses and companies to invest in Ghana because the country was peaceful.

Two Ghanaian graduates who studied Chinese in the university and currently earning good salaries by offering services to Chinese companies told the Ghanaian Times in separate interviews that proficiency in Chinese offered lifetime opportunities.

Mr. Ali Abubakar, a former student of UCC, now a service person at the university, said he paid his tuition fees with earnings from translations he did for companies while studying Chinese at the UCC, and advised Ghanaian students and graduates to take advantage of the economic prospects of learning Chinese.

The other graduate,  who pleaded anonymity because of the nature of his work, said he earned GH₵9,000.00 every month as a translator for a sensitive state institution.

Chinese businesses and companies had invested billions of dollars into the Ghanaian economy and provided hundreds of thousands of jobs to Ghanaians.

Currently, a lot of Chinese hotels, restaurants, cuisines’ and shops are opening in Osu and across the country.

There are a number of construction, mining, and mobile telecommunication companies providing essential services in Ghana.