Can a Chinese national take the IGCSE Chinese Second Language (0523) exam or are they required to take the Chinese First Language (0509) exam?

The 0509 IGCSE First Language Chinese qualification is designed for candidates who have learned Chinese from birth or early childhood, if they were born and immersed in the language during youth, in a family where the adults shared a similar language experience as the child.

The 0523 IGCSE Chinese as a Second Language syllabus is designed for candidates whose language is not a mother tongue but who learned Chinese after their first language in a context where the language is used widely in the speech community. The term often refers to non-native speakers who are learning, for example, Chinese in a Chinese language environment.

The decision as to which qualification candidates should be entered for rests with the individual centre. This decision should be based on candidates’ level of competency in Chinese and their prior knowledge of Chinese at the point of starting the course. We strongly recommend that centres refer to the syllabus and specimen papers to gain an understanding of the different requirements of the different qualifications we offer in Chinese at IGCSE level.