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Breton language lessons are already given abroad: London and Paris, Moskow and Ottawa, Toronto and Dublin, Cardiff and Copenhagen, Cologne, Helsinki and so on… But curiously not any yet in Asia! That is now done thanks to a Breton man from Shanghai, helped by Kentelioù an Noz, the Nantes area association of Breton lessons for adults, which has given him its methods and logistical support.
The lessons have started for one month with 6 people, as many men as women. All are Breton and enthusiastic about the opportunity to learn the language of their remote country. Their teacher, Herve Garandel, hopes some Chinese people will also put their name down. This as well can take part in linking the European and the Chinese civilizations which have still so much to discover from one another.
Herve has been in China for 3 years now, where he carries on with a professional career started in France. He has learnt the Mandarin, China's lingua franca. He is now married with his former teacher. This project manager fond of languages and cultures speaks also English and German. As far as Breton is concerned, he learnt it by his own, with the 10 last years books and a CD-rom, “Brezhoneg pa gari”. He was sensitized to that language when he was 12, at Cordemais's school, in the Nantes/Saint-Nazaire region. But at that time, he remembers he hadn't realized the treasure that had been given to him. Only once grown up did he realize the importance of making the Breton a living language. One must say it is funny to see that the other schoolboys and schollgirls of that time he met back have all followed the same way back to the Breton!
This open-mindness of his own, Herve uses it towards the Chinese language and culture, in the country where he has now settled. The Chinese languages would be more correct. In Shanghai for instance, the Shanghainese is the vernacular. This dialect of the Wu Chinese is spoken by 14 million people. The Wu language is the most spoken form of Chinese language behind the Madarin : 87 million speakers.
The Breton presence in Shanghai, China's most populated city, is not insignificant. You'll even have the chance to eat in a “crêperie”, this typical restaurant where you can taste Breton pancakes. Shangai's Breton expatriates have created an association, “KerShangai”, with which they live their culture and make discover their country around them. They celebrate their national day, the Saint Yves / Gouel Erwan each May. In the meantime the Chinese presence in Brittany is going forward. The first Confucius Institute of Brittany has just opened in Rennes, in order to develop the Chinese cultural and institutional presence. Besides, Mandarin lessons are given.
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