Beijing has almost achieved its target of having 35 percent of the city speak a foreign language before the 2008 Games, but officials are still struggling with a generational gap that has left many Olympic judges and coaches clueless when it comes to basic English conversation.
 Li Yang,one of the most popular English trainers in China.[File Photo] |
To help make amends in time for the Games, English First (EF) was signed up by BOCOG in March. It now teaches over 1,500 of the organizing committee's staff.
Most have taken to English like ducks to water, said EF's Olympic Project Manager Liang Jingbo.
"They've exceeded my expectations," she said. "At the beginning, I thought, 'They come from the government, so they won't be so devoted,' but now I see their dedication."
The drive to improve the city's language skills is part of a broader campaign to improve Beijing's image.
Taxi drivers, who must take a mandatory English test to receive their licenses, have been asked not to eat, smoke or sleep in their cabs; anti-spitting and public etiquette campaigns are already in full force; 'Chinglish' signboards are being rewritten, with 6,530 public signs on Beijing's roads altered last year; and "English corners" at university campuses are now commonplace.
With 500,000 international visitors expected to descend on Beijing for next summer's Games, the pressure is on to save the city's blushes.
Ricky May, who is teaching some senior BOCOG administrators, said the program is already paying off.
"Now they don't mind 'losing a little face,' even when they make mistakes," he said.
Bai Huajun, who will be in charge of the competition results during the Olympic shooting events next year, said nerves were an initial sticking point.
"At first, I couldn't even open my mouth. Now my oral English has jumped forward."
When Beijing was bidding for the Games in early 2001, some 15 percent of Beijingers had "a fairly good knowledge" of English, according to the People's Daily. It quoted then-mayor Liu Qi as saying that about 600,000 people, including pensioners but excluding school and college students, were also learning the language.
By the end of 2006, local authorities had closed in on their 5-million target, with a reported 4.87 million residents having a basic command of a foreign language, mostly English.
However, most of these people are under 30, creating a yawning generational gulf that the city is struggling to bridge.
Liang said that her BOCOG students span the whole spectrum in terms of English literacy, with marketing staff rating highly.
The total number of beneficiaries of the online project alone will be 5,000, she said.
Police go multilingual
Meanwhile, Beijing's police are also getting in on the act, with officers approaching Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) in April asking for help.
Some of the police officiers will soon receive teaching materials from the school tutoring them to deal with basic conversations in eight foreign languages.
The college plans to begin a program next month targeting senior officers with degrees from foreign universities who will deal with issues like security at the Games, said Zhao Yuan, director of the bureau's training department.
Some 60 percent of Beijing's police officers should have passed an English language test by the end of this year, she said. The test was introduced six years ago.
Free lessons
Yuanpei Translation, which is supplying its services voluntarily for the Games, is offering free lessons to city residents in a handful of languages.
Yuanpei, which views the Olympics as a long-term investment in building its corporate image, was selected as the Official Translation and Interpretation Supplier of the Games last year. It can provide translators in 84 languages.
General Manager Jiang Xiaolin said Chinese companies were best equipped to get the job done for Beijing 2008.
"Chinese is the official language for next year's Games, and only Chinese translators with a full understanding of our culture can do the job with the utmost competence," he said. "We have been researching Chinese culture since 2003."
Yuanpei has also volunteered to provide translation services for about 20 start-ups in Beijing's Zhongguancun High-tech (Industrial) Park.
Starting from April, it provided free courses to Beijingers in eight languages including Arabic, Russian and German.
"Although it was expensive to rent the classrooms, I'm happy to help improve Beijing's foreign language environment," said Jiang, who hopes to see the capital become more of an international city.
"It would be rewarding to see an Arabian being greeted in his mother tongue here."
As for the city's mission to develop speakers of other languages, authorities are focusing on high school and university students, and citizens with a basic grounding in English.
Beijing Speaks Foreign Language Program, the main driver for the city's foreign language campaign, has sent out free textbooks and a-v materials for its focus group. Their goal is to train 20,000 people this year in simple daily conversational Japanese, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Korean.
| ·Organizers sharpening language skills (2007-06-01 04:34:07) |