Several online non-English -foreign-language academic platforms have been made available, enabling academics and members of the public to search for information in a variety of languages, the National Science Council said yesterday.
The council said that under a program that began in December 2008, it has provided funds to the National Taiwan University (NTU) library to establish a pool of Japanese-language academic information in humanities and social sciences.
So far, the NTU platform has collected 11 Japanese--language databanks and over 400 free -Japanese-language Web resources, including Japan Knowledge and an archive of Japanese-language daily Yomiuri Shimbun.
According to NTU library statistics, the Japanese-language online platform recorded about 7,300 visits between July 29 last year and Sept. 30, with Japan Knowledge, an encyclopedia and dictionary, the most-frequently visited.
Meanwhile, the council said National Chengchi University (NCCU) was given funding to launch German and French-language academic information platforms in law, literature, linguistics and philosophy.
The NCCU platforms, which now include 353 German and 232 French-language databanks, are also free to access.
Liu Chi-hsuan (劉吉軒), the curator of NCCU’s library, said the databanks provide a good channel for those learning the languages and cultures of the two countries as they cover official data, media reports and information on daily life.
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