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Beijing Popularizes English for Olympic Bid
Bidding to host the 2008 Olympic Games is in full swing in Beijing. To boost its chances of securing the event, the Chinese capital launched a package of programs to popularize English among its citizens on Monday.
Many Beijingers agree that the ability to speak English is important, especially at a time when Beijing is competing with 9 other cities. However, the Chinese language is vastly different from English. So English study is an urgent need as 24-year-old civil servant Xu Jingya explains, "This is an international event. The citizens of Beijing should improve their English and they should start working at it right now. "
Beijing Television Station has just started a regular program " Gateway to English", to popularize English among Beijingers. Broadcast six times a week, the programme will focus on the basics of English and daily conversation. Professor Hu Wenzhong from the Beijing Foreign Studies University is the chief writer of the teaching material. He says to enhance Beijing's bid, people at large should be able to communicate at least at a basic level with athletes and spectators from all over the world. "I hope after following the course, people will have grasped a vocabulary of around 3,000 words and be able to communicate at a basic level in English."
Professor Chen Lin from the same university is now compiling a set of books teaching English conversations at different levels. He sees the importance of popularizing English in a long term view. "The long term objective is to make it possible for most Beijing citizens to be able to speak at least one foreign language, so as to boost the image of Beijing."
All these efforts are part of the English popularizing package launched by the Beijing Foreign Studies University in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics. Various English training programs will start soon for people in different service sectors.
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