A class of New York City firefighters, EMTs and paramedics participate in a Mandarin language class leading by Lily Cheung at an old Brooklyn firehouse on March 10. Initiated by FDNY's Phoenix Society, a group of Asian-American first responders, it's the first language program ever funded by the New York City Fire Department Foundation.Photo/China Daily by HEZI JIANG

Lieutenant Charles Flores has been learning to cook Chinese since he was 15. At 60, the emergency medical worker has signed up for an even bigger challenge: learning to speak Chinese.

Every Thursday, Flores and a handful of other New York City firefighters, EMTs and paramedics gather at an old Brooklyn firehouse to tackle Mandarin one word at a time.

“Ni you yige mao ma?” (Do you have a cat?) Flores asked his classmate during the class on March 10.

“Mei-you,” (No), his colleague answered, then turned and asked the next student if he had an older brother.

The group meets two hours a week, led by Lily Cheung, a China-born software engineer. She encourages students to learn by speaking out loud.

To understand the language’s structure, students practiced by arranging an English sentence in Mandarin sequence.

“Susan and I will watch a movie in Brooklyn tomorrow” becomes “Tomorrow I and Susan in Brooklyn watch a movie”.

“Flawless,” Cheung said again and again.

Started by the FDNY's Phoenix Society, a group of Asian-American first responders, the class is the first language program ever funded by the New York City Fire Department Foundation.

New York City has the largest Chinese population of any city outside of Asia. With about 420,000 people speaking Mandarin. It has become the second-most used non-English language after Spanish, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

The main purpose of the program is to better serve non-English speakers in the Chinese community, and the organizers hope to expand the classes into other Chinese dialects and Asian languages in the future.

There are only about 120 Asian Americans among the FDNY’s 10,200 firefighters, said Lieutenant Steven Lee, president of the Phoenix Society, who is also a student in the class.

“Probably only 40 of them are Chinese. And how many of them are fluent in the language?”