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Kunming government workers to learn five foreign languages
By Jane Chen |
August 4, 2009, Tuesday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
MORE than 50 publicity officials in Kunming began studying English in a one-year program that asks the city's government workers to learn five foreign languages.
In the following year, they will spend two hours in class three nights each week learning English as well as Laotian, Burmese, Thai and Vietnamese, plus putonghua and computer skills, today's Guangzhou Daily reported.
The ambitious training is designed to help the city attract more foreign investment, especially from Asian nations.
Kunming's Party Secretary Qiu He initiated the training program after learning that the city was short of speakers of these languages, the newspaper said.
Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province. It borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.
Qiu was told that there are no more than 200 people trained each year in the city to speak these Asian languages.
Qiu said the language and computer skills will better equip grassroots government workers in attracting foreign investors, particularly those from Southwest Asia and South Asia - Kunming's major targets of foreign investment, government officials told the newspaper.
Qiu told the officials that he is studying Vietnamese.
Local government workers supported the training program, the newspaper said.
As required, all the government workers under the age of 50 are covered by the training program. They shall master 700 frequently used sentences by this October including 300 sentences of English and 100 sentences each of the other four foreign languages.
When the training concludes, the workers must take tests. If they fail, they shall continue the training. Test results may affect chances at promotion, according to Wang Youxiang, vice secretary-general of Kunming municipal government.
Putonghua and computer skills training will carry over to next year, Wang said.
After that, Kunming's government workers will use putonghua rather than local dialects as their working language, he said.
But the language-training program has sparked controversy among some people in the online community. Some said officials are already busy and that the training would take too much time.
"It is more practical to have the officials do five good deeds for the people rather than speak five foreign languages," one person posted on Sina.com.
In the following year, they will spend two hours in class three nights each week learning English as well as Laotian, Burmese, Thai and Vietnamese, plus putonghua and computer skills, today's Guangzhou Daily reported.
The ambitious training is designed to help the city attract more foreign investment, especially from Asian nations.
Kunming's Party Secretary Qiu He initiated the training program after learning that the city was short of speakers of these languages, the newspaper said.
Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province. It borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.
Qiu was told that there are no more than 200 people trained each year in the city to speak these Asian languages.
Qiu said the language and computer skills will better equip grassroots government workers in attracting foreign investors, particularly those from Southwest Asia and South Asia - Kunming's major targets of foreign investment, government officials told the newspaper.
Qiu told the officials that he is studying Vietnamese.
Local government workers supported the training program, the newspaper said.
As required, all the government workers under the age of 50 are covered by the training program. They shall master 700 frequently used sentences by this October including 300 sentences of English and 100 sentences each of the other four foreign languages.
When the training concludes, the workers must take tests. If they fail, they shall continue the training. Test results may affect chances at promotion, according to Wang Youxiang, vice secretary-general of Kunming municipal government.
Putonghua and computer skills training will carry over to next year, Wang said.
After that, Kunming's government workers will use putonghua rather than local dialects as their working language, he said.
But the language-training program has sparked controversy among some people in the online community. Some said officials are already busy and that the training would take too much time.
"It is more practical to have the officials do five good deeds for the people rather than speak five foreign languages," one person posted on Sina.com.
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