The Examination Yuan has expanded the range of licenses for foreign-language tour guides from next year to include competency in Russian, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Malay.
The five new languages will be added in March to the current list of English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Korean, Thai and Arabic as options for a foreign-language tour guide license, the government body said.
People with a minimum qualification of a high school diploma are eligible to take the test, which is part of the Junior Civil Service Examinations and covers areas such as tour guide law, tourism resources and foreign language competency, the Examination Yuan said.
The list of languages was expanded in response to growing demand in the tourism market, Examination Yuan Secretary-General Hwang Yea-baang (黃雅榜) said.
Meanwhile, as part of an effort to improve the quality of tourism services, the test for Chinese-language tour guides will be moved to the Senior Civil Service Examinations from the beginning of next year, the Examination Yuan said.
Successful examinees in both categories of the exam are eligible to work as tour guides in the private or public sector.
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