Book Carnival’s English offerings mostly for children
Chan Im Wa
The Macau Book Carnival 2017 officially kicked off last Friday at the Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM), with many English-language children’s books on offer. The event will run at IPM’s Multisport Pavilion until July 30.
Chan Im Wa, President of the Macau Literacy Promotion Association, told the Times that this year’s carnival will have 70 tables, of which ten will sell English-language books.
“I think the percentage of English books probably goes up to one-seventh,” said Chan, who noted that the selection of English-language books on offer still caters mainly to youth and children in efforts to meet the market’s biggest demand.
“You can see that the English books are mainly for the youth and children because as their parents want them to learn English, parents want them to read [English books],” explained Chan, adding that there are also language learning books for people who are currently studying English as a second language.
“Portuguese books are targeting those who are studying Portuguese, naturally. […] There are some Macanese who also come here looking for cookbooks,” Chan remarked.
Chan said she was unable to predict how readers would react to a larger selection of Portuguese novels being brought to the fair.
Chan pointed out that there are some Portuguese-language books talking about China’s history and politics available and that the readership for this subject comprises Portuguese speakers who want to learn more about China.
When asked whether the carnival gives priority to English books rather than to Portuguese books, Chan said it was a market-driven decision.
“It’s a matter of market choice,” she said, further indicating that the people of Macau can only learn Portuguese by taking the initiative because the language is not a compulsory subject in most local schools. More members of the Macau public learn English because it is a mandatory subject.
“Nowadays, parents give more and more importance to English,” said Chan.
When talking about whether the carnival will offer more English-language books in a future edition, Chan emphasized that it all depends on sales.
“If the market maintains its current enthusiasm towards English books, then the carnival will uphold its current percentage of English books,” she said.
“There are also some English books from Singapore,” Chan continued, noting that they consist mainly of magazine series. “These extracurricular books are edited [according] to Singapore’s course outline.”
“They are mainly science books,” said Chan, adding that “all our [public] sources are put for the children.”
The theme of this year’s book carnival is “Learn From the Words of the Wise.” In total, there are around 30,000 books on offer in the exhibition, all sourced from publishers in mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the UK, the US and Singapore.
