SOME 30 million people are learning Chinese as a foreign language worldwide, and Singapore wants to be a player in this lucrative multi-million-dollar market.

The National Institute of Education (NIE), which trains teachers, hopes to offer a course to help China university graduates go global and teach Chinese in places such as the US or Europe.

The proposed graduate diploma course includes English courses and classroom training to prepare teachers who would otherwise be weak in English. Details are still being worked out.

'The biggest market now is for Chinese teachers in the external markets,' said Associate Professor Goh Yeng Seng of NIE.

A report in China's People's Daily last year said the number of people who want to study Chinese is expected to hit 100 million by 2010. More than 4 million teachers will be needed by then.

Prof Goh was speaking at the Global Mandarin Forum, a three-day event attended by about 600 teachers, academics and members of the public.

There are simply not enough teachers to go round, especially those trained to teach Chinese as a second language, he said.

According to Professor Wang Tiekun, deputy director of language and communication of China's Education Ministry, there are about 180 Confucius Institutes which have sprouted up worldwide in the past few years to promote Chinese language and culture.

Singapore can have a share of the pie, the language experts said on the last day of the conference on Sunday.

Professor Winnie Au Yeung of the University of Hong Kong said Singapore, with its experience in teaching Chinese as a second language, can be a starting point for foreigners who want to learn it.

Its bilingual environment is also an advantage as most of the learners are overseas Chinese whose first language is English, she said.