From Italian to Arabic

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1870s, 1910s, 1930s, 1960s, 1990s, 2000s, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, languages, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, war

The language laboratory, once a familiar venue to every language student, in 1990. Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Photographic Unit records, MS-4185/030, S15-500c.

Various modern languages have come and gone from the Otago curriculum over the years and their fortunes show a fascinating link with world geopolitics. While Latin and Greek were there from the beginning, modern languages started in 1875, with classes in German, French and Italian. Italian didn’t make it far – there was just one student in that first class and it was never repeated! French and German had the advantage through the years of being taught widely at high schools, always an important factor in recruiting students at university level. They were also useful for anybody with scholarly interests, since much scholarly publishing, from sciences to theology, was in German or French until English became more dominant in the mid-twentieth century. This was one of the rationales for compulsory languages in all university degrees.

Apart from a two-year suspension in the 1870s while the university sought a replacement lecturer, French has remained on the Otago syllabus throughout, but the German programme became a victim of World War I. Early in 1915 Frank Campbell, the German lecturer, had no choice but to resign, for he had no students; Otago students in the grip of patriotic fervour were not prepared to learn the language of their enemy. The university council regretted ‘the removal, even for a time, of so important a study as that of German from the subjects of instruction within the University.’ German classes commenced again in 1918, catering for science students who now had to demonstrate a reading knowledge of foreign languages to complete their degree.

The German programme slowly rebuilt and was boosted by the arrival of new lecturer Felix Grayeff in 1939. By contrast with World War I, German classes actually expanded during World War II. New Zealand society had obviously matured a little, and it presumably helped, also, that Grayeff was a Prussian Jew who might earn some sympathy from the most patriotic supporter of the allied cause. He was a classicist who had difficulty obtaining teaching work in Germany due to his religion.

Geopolitics also played a role in the next major development in languages at Otago, as the prolonged Cold War heightened local interest in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; this coincided with an increase in scientific publications in Russian. In 1960 the Department of Modern Languages began offering Russian tutorials as an option for those who had to pass a compulsory foreign language reading test, and a year later a degree programme in Russian commenced. In 1969 the expanding Department of Modern Languages divided into three: the German, French and Russian departments.

New Zealand’s growing economic, diplomatic and cultural ties with Asia prompted the next additions to the language programme. A 1991 working party set up by vice-chancellor Robin Irvine reported that Asian studies were critical to the future of both university and nation. Though Otago offered papers relating to Asia in various departments, there were no Asian languages taught. Other than Lincoln, all other New Zealand universities had Asian language programmes, and Otago ‘would find itself at a steadily worsening competitive disadvantage if corrective measures are not taken urgently.’ Undergraduate language courses in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese commenced in 1993, with classes of 26 and 132 respectively. The greater popularity of Japanese reflected New Zealand’s closer trade and tourism ties with that country than with Chinese-speaking nations in that period, together with the widespread teaching of Japanese in secondary schools.

Despite the encouraging introduction of Japanese and Chinese, the 1990s was a troubled decade for Otago’s language programmes. Tighter funding, closely linked to student enrolments, placed small departments like those of the languages in jeopardy. Russian, which had evolved from the Department of Russian and Soviet Studies into the the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies following the collapse of the Soviet Union, was the smallest department in the humanities with very few students and large budget blowouts; it closed at the end of 1997. This prompted wide protests, for the department, renowned for its eccentricity, was held in much affection around the university. The closure reflected a declining local interest in things Russian as world politics evolved – as one-time lecturer Peter Stupples comments, Russian ‘came in because of politics and went out because of politics’.

Meanwhile, a 1997 report noted that Spanish was ‘important as a Pacific Rim language. South and Central America are likely to become of greater significance to the future of New Zealand, both commercially and culturally, in the coming decade.’ Otago was developing exchange agreements with universities in Chile and Peru, short courses in Spanish were proving popular at Otago Polytechnic, and Auckland and several Australian universities had introduced very successful Spanish programmes. Otago commenced Spanish courses in 2001 and they proved popular from the very start, attracting 340 students to the first paper offered. By 2003 there were 394 students enrolled in undergraduate Spanish papers, making it the most popular language on offer (te reo Maori excluded – for the history of Maori language teaching at Otago, see this earlier post).

The success of the Spanish programme prompted Otago into a new language venture: in 2003 it became the only New Zealand university to offer teaching in Portuguese. This was a strategic decision to strengthen the university’s Latin American and European offerings and aid its exchange programmes with two Brazilian universities. Classes carried on for a few years, but did not attract sufficient interest to survive.

The most recent language added to the schedule reflects New Zealand’s growing involvement with the Middle East. Introductory Arabic language was first taught as a Summer School paper in 2005, following requests from students. This was a convenient way for the university to introduce a new language, since it could be taught, like many Summer School papers, by a visiting lecturer. Arabic has since appeared several times on the Summer School programme, attracting both local and international students. It has not, however, progressed beyond first-year level.

Otago’s Department of Languages and Cultures, created in 2003 by combining the departments of French and German and the other language programmes, now teaches five core languages at both undergraduate and postgraduate level – Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. I wonder where our ever-changing world will lead us next!

The German play, a popular annual event since 1954. This production was in 2002. Image courtesy of Alyth Grant.

Early Chinese students

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1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Aquinas, Asia, Chinese, dentistry, graduation, law, medicine

Dr Kathleen Pih, photographed by J.J. Webster, Dunedin, c.1930. Image courtesy of Presbyterian Research Centre, P-A154.19-59.

Chinese students have a long history at Otago. I’ve posted before about the big impact that Colombo Plan students from Asia had on the university from the 1950s to 1970s – many of them were Chinese Malaysians. As the Colombo Plan wound back and private international students grew in number, Malaysians remained an important presence on campus. The late 1990s also saw the beginnings of an influx of international students directly from China – their numbers peaked at 700 in 2005 and remain substantial today. But there is, of course, a long history of Chinese migration to New Zealand and the earliest Chinese students at Otago were homegrown – people who had been born or raised here.

I recently had the privilege of talking with two well-known members of Dunedin’s Kiwi Chinese community – James Ng, medical doctor and historian of the Chinese in New Zealand, and Peter Chin, lawyer, singer, and former mayor of Dunedin. Both have fond memories of their Otago student days and generously shared some insights into the Chinese community at the university. James Ng came from Ashburton to Otago to study medicine in 1954 – he describes himself as being at the tail end of the first wave of New Zealand Chinese university students. That wave resulted from the changing demographics of the Chinese community. For many decades immigration policy prevented the settlement of Chinese women in New Zealand, so many Chinese men here remained single or left families behind in China. When restrictions were reduced during World War II more women and families arrived in New Zealand. Peter Chin, who started his law degree at Otago in 1959, was born in Dunedin as part of the “baby boom” resulting from the influx of Chinese women to this country in the 1940s.

While some pioneering Otago Chinese trained in professions such as dentistry and law before these became university courses, and Norman Lo Keong graduated in engineering from Canterbury, the University of Otago’s first Chinese graduates were in medicine. The honour of being first goes to Kathleen Pih (Pih Zhen-Wah). Born in 1902 in Antung, China, she came to New Zealand in 1908 with her foster mother, a Dunedinite who had been working with the China Inland Mission. Special permission was required from the Governor-General for Kathleen to gain entry to New Zealand. She went to primary school in Waimate and had her secondary schooling at Otago Girls’ High School, enrolling as a university student in 1921. After graduating in medicine in 1929, she returned to China as a missionary for some years. She later completed specialist training in ophthalmology in London and married anatomy professor Francis Chang of Shanghai.They worked in China, Singapore and Hong Kong before retiring to New Zealand in 1969.

The next Chinese student at Otago was Roy Ting Shang Law, who commenced his medical course in 1937. He finally graduated in 1947 – this was a period when many students took extra years to complete their course, and the fact he had to work to support himself and his wife obviously didn’t help the progression of his studies. Dr Law established a very successful general practice in Wellington and this had quite an impact on New Zealand’s Chinese community. Once they saw how acceptable a Chinese doctor could be to wider society, they were happy to encourage their children to study medicine. James Ng’s parents were initially reluctant for him to undertake tertiary study, thinking business offered better opportunities, but Dr Law’s success swayed them to allow their son to come to Otago, albeit not to study in the field which originally interested him – geology!

The health sciences remained the most popular Otago courses for Chinese students, attracting people from all over New Zealand. Douglas Ngan Kee of Whanganui became the first Chinese dental graduate in 1950. The specialist courses in mining and home science also brought Chinese students to Otago, while arts and law attracted a smaller number, most of them southerners. By the 1950s Otago was also enrolling students from Fiji’s Chinese community, while the Colombo Plan brought Chinese students from elsewhere, notably Malaysia.

Jocelyn Wong, an arts student from Masterton, and Peter Chin, a law student from Dunedin, are at centre front of this group of students at a St Margaret’s College ball in the early 1960s. Image courtesy of Peter Chin.

There was no special club or society for Otago’s Chinese students, though many took part in activities of the local Dunedin Chinese Association. Some also participated in the International Club, which was mostly run by European women students. Other than this, they took part in activities according to their personal interests – for instance, James Ng joined the tramping club. Like many out-of-town students he also mixed widely with others by living in a residential college, thriving at Aquinas, where he was one of the founding residents.

The biggest priority for Chinese students was their studies – their reputation for diligence is a long-standing one. Extra-curricular activities came second to work, and Peter Chin notes that he was an exception in his generation for the extent of his involvement in campus activities. His first year was “a disaster” academically but a great success socially thanks to his talent for singing. Along with a few school friends he auditioned for the capping chorus, and as a result was asked to audition for the sextet. Becoming part of this elite group provided him with an instant introduction into student society. He sang with the sextet for 3 of his 5 years at Otago, and also became capping chorus master. In his final year he served on the OUSA executive, having been selected as their business manager, a role traditionally held by a law student.

Peter Chin (right) with the sextet c.1962. Image courtesy of Peter Chin.

In the 94 years since the remarkable Kathleen Pih first became an Otago student, many of New Zealand’s Chinese community have followed in her footsteps. My thanks to James Ng and Peter Chin for sharing memories and photographs of Otago student life in the 1950s and 1960s, along with some stories of their predecessors!