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Olympic Bidding Success Spurs English Language Fever in China
Tens of thousands of people across China, from kids to the mayor of Beijing and even senior state leaders, have discovered new and more practical reasons for learning English -- and have logged some serious study time in their effort.
The catalyst was the decision made on July 13 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarding Beijing the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Jiang Ming, a seven-year-old student at Wu Yi Primary School in Beijing who used to hate learning English, gave his parents a pleasant surprise last week when he grabbed his Olympic English handbook and accompanying cassette tape from his bookshelf and sat down for an evening of hard work.
His change of mind was apparently influenced by several boys and girls who recently appeared on Chinese TV saying they wanted to be good English speakers so they could serve as volunteers for the games.
Bruce Connolly of Britain, who has been associated with China for many years and described Beijing as his second home, said Beijing's successful bid brings a great opportunity for the young Chinese people to improve their language skills.
A Zambian student who gave his surname as Kasanda, said China must train lots of workers and volunteers in English as part of the efforts to make the games a success.
"Language is a bridge, and you can make foreigners feel at home with a good command of foreign languages", said Kasanda, who is studying at the University of International Business and Economics.
While some kids' motives for learning English may be directly linked to parental persuasion, adult learners of English -- including senior government officials -- are taking the plunge independently.
On July 13, tens of millions of Chinese viewers were surprised to see 69-year-old Vice-Premier Li Lanqing, and Liu Qi, mayor of Beijing, speaking in fluent English to the crucial IOC meeting in Moscow, which was broadcast live on China's national TV.
The 58-year-old Beijing mayor later told reporters he practiced the presentation almost every day for two weeks.
Over the past two decades, as China became the world's seventh- ranking exporter and eighth-ranking importer, people able to speak and write English fluently have been the first choices in the Chinese labor market as demand for them far exceeds supply.
But the shortage is expected to be more acute after China's upcoming entry into the World Trade Organization, which means more foreign trade, investment and foreign visitors for China, thus more professionals with a good command of English will be needed.
The Chinese people and the government have or are taking a number of emergency and perhaps far-reaching, long-term measures to cope with the challenge.
Over 30,000 young Beijingers entered their names this month for English language courses in July at New Oriental Language School, a figure Vice-Principal Li Li described as a record high.
She said the school received a steady stream of phone calls from people wanting to study English after Beijing was chosen to host the games.
The service sectors in Beijing and Shanghai -- luxury hotels and restaurants, and taxi drivers in particular -- have been spending more time on improving their employees' English language skills.
Liu Chang, public relations manager of the Great Wall Hotel, said the hotel has offered English language courses and sponsored speech contests for employees. Liu said the level of employees' ability to communicate in English is linked with their pay.
Sun Zhenyu, deputy chief of the Personnel Bureau of the Beijing Municipal Government, said 100,000 public servants in Beijing will receive on-the-job English language training so that each of them will be able to speak at least 100 English sentences.
The Ministry of Education last year listed English language as a compulsory subject for millions of primary school students. The enthusiasm for learning English is not confined only to Beijing.
At a small audio-video shop on Xinjiekou Street in Putian City of east China's Fujian Province, a smiling shop assistant said printed and electronic books for English language courses have become best-sellers, and sales volume is unusually high.
Gao Pengfei, an official with the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs (SAFEA), said tens of thousands of native speakers of English have been hired to work at Chinese colleges as teachers of English during the past several decades.
A total of 1,221 Chinese colleges have recently issued job offers on SAFEA's website of "www.Chinajob.com" for native speakers of English as their teachers of English.
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