RIO DE JANEIRO, May 10 -- More Brazilians are taking interest in the Chinese language, but it takes more efforts to boost cultural cooperation between the two countries, an expert has said.

Jianzhen Qiao, director of the Rio de Janeiro branch of the Confucius Institute, told Xinhua recently that the interest for Mandarin in Brazil has been growing, and more branches of the Institute have been inaugurated in recent years.

Brazil currently has eight branches of the Confucius Institute, and there are plans for two more in the near future. However, she said, there is still much to be done in order to make Mandarin a more popular choice for Brazilians to learn a foreign language. And language is an important aspect of the cultural cooperation between Brazil and China.

"The language is the greatest barrier for the interchange between Brazil and China. In China it is easier, because there have been Portuguese courses in 25 universities, but in Brazil, there is not a single undergraduate course in Mandarin," Qiao told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

There is only one college offering Mandarin course in South America, in Peru, she said. The lack of Mandarin courses makes it harder for Chinese companies to hire Brazilians who are familiar with local culture, which makes a lot of difference for businesses.

Qiao and Confucius Institute are doing their part. The Mandarin classes in Rio's Confucius branch are opened in association with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), a much respected local university. The institute has established an interchange program, sending Brazilian students to study in China.

The Confucius Institute is also expanding its influence beyond PUC. Last year, a bilingual Portuguese-Mandarin public high school was inaugurated in Niteroi, near Rio, in partnership with the Rio de Janeiro state government. There is also a Mandarin classroom supported by the Confucius Institute in another public high school in Rio.

In addition, kung fu remains the main cultural aspect which attracts Brazilians to study Mandarin. "I know many Brazilians who speak Chinese very well, but their interest came from kung fu. They started practicing kung fu and realized that knowledge of the language is very important, too," Qiao said, adding that the interest in Chinese arts and music has increased somewhat as well.

Governmental initiatives would help much, but they are rare. Last year, Brazil and China signed an agreement to increase academic interchange by offering scholarships. But according to Qiao, the initiative was not actually implemented, and the scholarships for Brazilians to study in China have not come true.

In order to promote cultural interchange, Brazil must also make more organized effort to tout Brazilian culture in China, Qiao said, since people in China do not know a lot about Brazil beyond the widely renowned carnival and soccer.

She highlighted that while China has Confucius Institute, Britain has the British Council and Spain has the Cervantes Institute, Brazil does not have a similar organization dedicated to promoting the Portuguese language abroad.

"Brazil does not have a systematic program to promote Portuguese language and Brazilian culture abroad, which is a pity. In Asia, those who speak Portuguese often speak with a Portuguese accent, because the government of Portugal is always trying to promote the language," Qiao said.

"There are Brazilians who are in China trying to promote Brazil, its language and culture, but without the support of their government, without a support system, it will be a much slower process," she added.