The project ChAT - Chinese with Audio Technology“, which is one of the projects of the Lifelong Learning Program of the European Union will be developed for two years starting from November 2010. The project will be led by the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) in cooperation with the Confucius Institutes in Nuremberg-Erlangen, Dublin, Granada, La Rochelle und the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU).

The project aims to develop both materials and web-based technologies to support learners of Chinese tackle a major difficulty, namely mastery of the tonal system. It has identified an innovative way of addressing this difficulty by working with intonation patterns from four major EU languages and developing a technological mechanism to help learners overcome the difficulties. The overall aim is to make learning Chinese easier and faster by developing materials to be playable in a web-based Virtual Learning Environment allowing for the divelopment of a new, learner-orientated pedagogy with flexible delivery and new types of exercises not currently available. The proposal sets out its objectives clearly and has identified three target groups: school pupils, higher education students and adults, many of whom will need the language for business purposes. Transversality is achieved through both the target groups and the fact that the Confucius institutes in the consortium all currently work with a least three sub-sectors. The project aims to develop materials which use the intonations of existing European languages and the materials will then be localized to meet the specific needs of the countries involved.

The overall amount of funding by the EU is 423 300 €, which is 75% of the estimated total cost, 25 % are to be contributed by the consortium.

The project shows clearly the important role Chinese as a Foreign Language plays in Europe as the number of Chinese learners is increasing rapidly. The ChAT project therefore is a model-project for cooperative research and development of Chinese teaching material. The fact that 4 out of 6 partners are Confucius-Institutes is evidence for the expertise and prestige they have achieved within the host countries.