Print

Mail

wiki links

Letters: Corner the language market

With all the talk recently about Taiwan losing its prestige in the world, here is a simple suggestion to help Taiwan earn some respect from the global community. Why not develop a concise, world-renowned Chinese language program and offer it for free, online to anyone that wants to learn (traditional) Mandarin Chinese?

It would consist of a textbook, student manual, teacher manual, lesson plans, videos, podcasts, posters, flashcards, study kits, internet steaming via a radio station, and so on. The textbook should be used at a university so training from it could be formal or informal. It would be like the Practical AV (師大) book, but better organized and more user-friendly.

The total cost for the government would be close to zero, but the marketing benefits and opportunities would be enormous. I would be glad to donate some spare time to help organize this project if anyone from the government happens to read this letter. Taiwan could even think about offering more scholarships or short-term, no hassle visas (3-12 month) for anyone to come study and learn about the good things Taiwan has to offer.
Marc Plumb
Taipei
This story has been viewed 1868 times.