Trying to communicate
By Ajoa Yeboah Afari, From BeijingAlthough China has had a policy of openness since 1979, it appears that the world still regards it as a closed society and no doubt it is the anxiety to shed its grey image that fuels the present campaign to invite the world to see things for itself.
In recent years, journalists from all over the world are regularly invited to tour the country and it goes without saying that any country that feels able to do that is one that is proud of its progress and comfortable about coming under scrutiny by the media-warts and all.
In the few days since I have been here as part of a group of journalists from English-speaking Africa, we have been greatly impressed, even over-whelmed at times, by the China we are seeing. It is a country of great beauty that has been able to make astronomical strides in many areas, including agriculture, technology, construction and tourism. It has been able to conquer some of its most inhospitable terrain through creative methods and use of scarce water.
However, one major problem that confronts those who come to see the new China is of course language. The government's campaign to get the people to learn English as the bridge to the rest of the world is yet to bear fruit, as any visitor can attest. It has been very frustrating at times trying to communicate with even tourism frontline workers such as hotel staff.
The capital, Beijing, for example, is obviously trying hard to be visitor-friendly. Many signs are in both Chinese and English, including traffic and directional ones. And no doubt it is all part of the preparations for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. Officials explain that there is a big drive to get people to learn English and taxi drivers, especially are even given incentives for that.
All the highways that we have traveled on have had traffic and other signs in English as well, although some of them are so quaintly worded that they make one smile and one has to guess the meaning. For example, two common highway notice read:"Do not drive tiredly"(with an illustration of a motorist dozing off at the wheel) and "rear end collision. Keep space". Apparently this is advice to maintain a safe distance from the next car.
Nevertheless, one has to commend them for trying to at least make things a little easier for those who don't speak Chinese.
According to official sources, five years ago the education policy was that English should be taught in middle schools, but currently it has been revised to begin from primary schools and clearly it is the way to go. From the little our group saw, the new policy is yielding results.
We saw evidence of this when in a remote village in a deprived area, in Ningxia province; we met primary school pupils who bashfully managed to say "good morning" and "how are you?". One of them proudly showed us an English reader she had been supplied at school that morning.
When we moved to the next city, a group of children came up to chat with us at the airport, clearly curious at seeing Africans, but also apparently determined to practice their English. They were aged between five and 10 years old. When asked for her name, one little girl replied without hesitation and in perfect accent:"I am five years." And she had a question of her own:"what is your name?"
(The writer, Editor of the Ghanaian Times, is among a group of 22 journalists from English speaking Africa who are currently visiting China at the invitation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China).
Sources: the Ghanaian Times