<div dir="ltr">
<h1 class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-title">FEATURE: Taiwanese diplomats hone regional language prowess</h1>
<h3 class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-a2"></h3>
<div class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-reporter">By Joseph Yeh / CNA</div>
<p class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-line"></p>
<div class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-main_ipic"><div><div class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-TTNC"></div>
<ins id="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-aswift_0_expand" style="display:inline-table;border:medium none;height:250px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:300px;background-color:transparent"><ins id="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-aswift_0_anchor" style="display:block;border:medium none;height:250px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:300px;background-color:transparent"></ins></ins>
</div></div>
<div class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-text">
<p>For decades, Taiwanese diplomats focused on sharpening their skill at
using the languages most commonly used around the world, such as
English, Spanish, French and Japanese.</p><p>However, most of them have
little knowledge of languages spoken in Southeast Asia, even though tens
of thousands of people from the region have come to work in Taiwan or
are married to Taiwanese.</p><p>So when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)
took office in May 2016 and initiated the New Southbound Policy to
reduce Taiwan’s economic dependence on China and bolster ties with ASEAN
members, there was a new urgency to build up the proficiency of
Taiwanese diplomats in ASEAN languages.</p><p>The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, which is responsible for cultivating the nation’s top
diplomats, has taken up the challenge to address the language gap.</p><p>Its
most important initiative came last month, when it added two new
language categories — Vietnamese and Indonesian — to the Civil Service
Special Examination for Diplomatic and Consular Personnel, the national
test used by the ministry to select its diplomats.</p><p>The examination
used to test candidates on 13 possible languages, but among them only
two — Thai and Malay — were exclusively spoken by ASEAN members.</p><p>When
the new languages were added last year, 13 candidates took the
Indonesian exam and four took the Vietnamese exam, with a candidate for
each landing a job at the ministry, it said.</p><p>Beyond recruiting new
personnel, the ministry has since last year required Taiwanese staff at
all of its offices in ASEAN member nations to study the local language,
and a total of 73 people are now participating in language classes.</p><p>Young
diplomats are also being sent to ASEAN members for language training,
an initiative that precedes the New Southbound Policy.</p>
<p>The ministry has been sending people abroad for language training
since 1997, but it was only in 2013 that training in ASEAN member
nations become an annual routine, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章)
said.</p><p>By August, the ministry will have sent nine diplomats to Indonesia for language training, and six each to Thailand and Vietnam.</p><p>Twelve
of them were sent before 2016, while the remaining nine will have been
sent since the launch of the New Southbound Policy.</p><p>Lee said the ministry is increasing the frequency at which it is sending staff to ASEAN members.</p><p>Aside
from learning the local language, the trainees also take courses on the
laws, trade issues, international relations and diplomatic matters
related to the nation that they are visiting to sharpen their
professional skills.</p><p>Fenny Chiang (江瑜婷), a young diplomat who
joined the ministry two years ago, is one of three personnel who are to
travel overseas for training in August.</p><p>She is to study at Thailand’s prestigious Chulalongkorn University for 10 months to improve her Thai.</p><p>Chiang said she studied Thai in college because of her personal interest in a Thai TV drama and the beauty of Thai script.</p><p>She
took two semesters of Thai and decided after joining the foreign
service in 2016 to apply for the overseas language training program.</p><p>With
her familiarity with the language and the renewed emphasis on relations
with ASEAN members, she was a perfect candidate for the project in
Bangkok.</p><p>Such language training has proven invaluable for
Taiwanese diplomats, and Frank Yen (顏銘男), a secretary at Taiwan’s
representative office in Hanoi who studied Vietnamese from 2012 to 2013,
might know that better than anyone else.</p>
</div>
<div class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-page">
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/05/20/2003693402/1" class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail-select" target="_blank">1</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/05/20/2003693402/2" target="_blank">2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/05/20/2003693402/2" target="_blank">NEXT ›</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="m_-1181644786482586099gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<wbr>=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~<wbr>haroldfs/</a> <br><br>------------------------------<wbr>-------------------</div>
</div>