Chinese has become the most popular foreign
language among Thai students, according to a top education official.
Almost
300,000 students at 700 schools administered by the Office of the Basic
Education Commission (Obec) study Chinese, said Usanee Watanapan, deputy
director of the Bureau of Academic Affairs and Educational Standards at Obec.
Japanese
and Korean are also becoming more popular, she said, with around 34,000
students studying Japanese at 175 schools and 12,000 studying Korean, which has
only been offered at Obec schools for a few years.
Usanee
said Asian languages had become more popular, while Western languages -
especially French - were less popular.
"From
the 2007-2011 academic years, fewer students studied French. Only 383 teachers
at 221 schools still teach the language, with 35,000 students taking it. In the
past, almost all Obec schools taught French as an elective subject. With fewer
students, many schools have stopped teaching this language.
"China's
economy is strong and growing, while the economies of Western countries are
weaker. This has caused students to pay more attention to Asian languages. [The
upcoming] Asean Economic Community has also affected students' decisions, with
more of them deciding to study Asian languages, including those used in our
neighbouring countries. Not only people in this region are studying [Asian]
languages; more Westerners are also studying Chinese," she said.
Schools
administered by Obec teach 11 languages as elective subjects, including French,
German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Burmese, Vietnamese and Khmer.
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