YOU might have seen the Speak Mandarin Campaign video on TV recently, featuring cute kids of different nationalities telling stories in almost-perfect Mandarin.

More than just a plug for the campaign, the one-minute clip that has been telecast since March 17 also reflects a trend making its voice heard here.

'The world has gone crazy over Mandarin. It is now the new world language.' MR DICK SAGE, principal of Inlingua

More foreigners, from Vietnamese and Koreans to Germans and Swiss, are learning Mandarin.

Five language schools that LifeStyle spoke to report an increase of between 10 and 600 per cent in the number of foreigners signing up to learn the language, compared to five years ago.

Students include Mr Michael Nguyen from France, who came here for a holiday but ended up learning Mandarin at Ikoma Language School from August last year.

'It makes sense to learn Chinese here,' says the 29-year-old Paris Sorbonne University philosophy PhD student who is on his break to write his thesis.

He adds: 'It's useful. China is where all the business is and, even in France, the business schools are teaching Chinese.'

Ikoma's spokesman says that half of those attending its Mandarin courses for those aged 13 and above are Westerners. The school, in Orchard Road's Shaw House, conducts 10 to 15 classes weekly, with four to 15 students in each class.

Well-established language school Inlingua - with branches in more than 40 countries - has seen a dramatic increase in numbers.

Read the full story in today's edition of The Sunday Times Lifestyle.