The government is encouraging young people to learn Southeast Asian languages as part of its “new southbound policy,” but a survey found that few Taiwanese students are interested in learning such languages.
Only 2.4 percent of the middle-school, college and university students polled answered that Southeast Asian languages are a priority to learn, according to the survey, which was conducted by the King Car Cultural and Educational Foundation.
The survey, the results of which were released on Wednesday last week, showed that 67.3 percent of respondents said English is the most important language Taiwanese need to further improve, followed by 13.6 percent for Korean and Japanese, 10.3 percent for Mandarin Chinese and 5.7 percent for European languages.
The survey’s results suggest Taiwanese students need to broaden their global horizons, instead of limiting themselves to learning the languages and cultures of only a few countries, such as the US, South Korea and Japan, the foundation said.
Liu Bih-rong (劉必榮), a professor of politics at Soochow University in Taipei, said that what motivates teenagers and young people to learn a foreign language is not necessarily a desire to know more about the international community.
“They might simply want to be able to play games,” Liu said, adding that if the government wants to promote its southbound policy, it should try to generate more interest in countries in Southeast and South Asia.
Strategies such as promoting movies, TV dramas or novels from those countries in Taiwan need to be adopted to achieve the desired results, he said.
The “new southbound policy” is an initiative promoted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in an effort to develop closer ties with business partners in Southeast and South Asia, such as ASEAN members and India.
The DPP government, which took power on May 20, has been working to diversify Taiwan’s investment and trade at a time when there are concerns the nation has become too economically dependent on China.
Questionnaires were sent to randomly selected students in September. A total of 1,736 valid samples were collected, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
NOT AN OPENING: Trump’s violation of international law does not affect China’s consideration in attacking Taiwan; Beijing lacks capability, not precedent, an official said Taiwanese officials see the US’ capture of the president of Venezuela as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and a timely reminder of the US’ ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons. The strikes that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled to authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), US President Donald Trump’s willingness to use military might for international affairs core to US interests, one senior official in Taipei’s security circle said. That reassured Taiwan, the person said. Taipei has also dismissed the idea that Trump’s apparent violation of international law could embolden Beijing, said the official, who was not
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there
RSS