Valorization of “Non-Lingua Francas” under the Framework of Belt-and-Road Initiative
-- A case study of Vietnamese, Burmese and Thai

吳楠（云南大學，云南 昆明 650500）

Part one Online Data Analysis

English is a global language and in many cases is a second language or a foreign language in “the Belt and Road”countries.

Languages of surrounding countries like Vietnamese, Burmese and Thai have high linguistic status and reputation, and they serve as a bridge and bond in regional communication.

Part Two Investigation among people( in the form of questionnaire)

I did questionnaires among 16 people. But I chose 8 of them as representatives. The questionnaires centered on three questions: 1.What’s the influence of the Belt and Road on their profession? 2.What’s their employment prospect? 3. What’s their attitude toward English plus non- lingua francas education?

The 6 students all agree that there is a larger demand for non-lingua francas talents, especially in trading; more colleges and universities set up non-lingua francas major. As a result, there are more non-lingua francas major students. Due to a larger supply, the employers have more requirement on employees’ professional skills. As for their employment prospect, they usually work as interpreters, translators,teachers, employees of foreign trade companies or engage in media industry.

Miss Liu and Miss Guo are Vietnamese major. They said if they go abroad, they can earn much more money. But there is a disadvantage of going abroad, these fresh graduates have to stay there for at least 3 years,many female students may be reluctant to go there.

Miss Li and Mr. Lan are Burmese major. They said compared with Vietnamese and Thai, Burmese talents are still short in supply.

Miss Jiang and Miss. Yu are Thai major. They think English plus Thai talents are very popular. But if some students cannot be good at either English or Thailand, it will be better for them to study only one language. What’s more, teacher resources are limited and the courses for two languages cannot be balanced. Therefore, English plus nonlingua francas major also has its risks.

Miss Zhou, who works as a Chinese teacher in a Thai Confucius Institute, said: “In Thailand, there is a large demand for Chinese teachers every year. And many products are made in China. At scenic spots, the peddlers can speak simple Chinese, which means Chinese has a large influence in surrounding countries. What’s more, Sino- Thai railway will boost the relationship between Thailand and China.”

Miss Han is an employee in HuaWei. HuaWei is a very powerful Chinese enterprise. It not only has a large demand for talents, but also has a high requirements on its employees.

“In some countries, people speak English, for example, in Thailand, therefore we have a demand for Vietnamese and Burmese talents. English plus non-lingua francas talents are well-received.”

Part Three The language cultivation in Yunnan Province

Yunnan Province has some natural advantages in developing Southeast Asia language cultivation. For a certain number of people who speak ethnic minority foreign languages, their mother tongue is in the same language branch with their neighboring countries. This is a natural foreign language resource that can provide natural strategic resources for cultivating foreign language talents of ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia for Yunnan. English is a strong foreign language at the ethnic minorities border crossings in Yunnan.

Part Four Conclusion

From the investigation, we can see that (1) English is still important in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative. (2) Graduates of non-lingua francas are in short supply, so they are competitive, and enjoy high salary. But because of marriage and family issues, being away from homeland is a problem for female graduates. (3)Especially foreign-funded commerce companies are badly in need of bilingual or multilingual talents. In my opinion, Confucius Institute is also a good employment choice. (4) Bilingual education has a bright future,but the quality of teachers need to be promoted. (5) As regional lingua franca, Southeast Asian languages would be saturated in a certain time. Therefore Ministry of Education has to plan well, or the wide establishment of homogenized language cultivating project could cause the waste of education and human resources. Languages, as linguistic resources, will add the value of labor force. Generally speaking, the more languages a person can speak, the more potential job opportunities wait for him. Under the circumstance of today’s cruel competitive job market, it is really important for the potential job-seekers try to increase their value.

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