Sales staff take up study of Mandarin
Updated: 2015-04-06 09:44
By Zhengxin(China Daily)
|
||||||||
As Chinese travel abroad at an unprecedented rate, South Korea, now the leading destination for its neighbor's outbound tourists, is scrambling to keep up with the growing inflow of wealthy Chinese.
Myeongdong, Seoul's bustling pedestrian street for shopping, teems with so many Chinese tourists each day that shop sales staff have begun learning Mandarin to improve service.
A National Public Radio report said that some schools in South Korea are filling up with skin-care salespeople, whose bosses are paying for them to learn Mandarin.
Soh Bor-am, a Korean who teaches eight one-hour classes of Mandarin per day, said the demand for Chinese-language classes is growing.
Liu Zheng, a postgraduate student from China's Liaoning province who is studying in South Korea and teaches Mandarin during his free time, said one of his students is a vendor who sells fashion apparel and gadgets.
"He owns a shop at Myeongdong and also deals with clothing imports and exports to and from China," said Liu. "Japanese used to be the most popular second language in the country due to trade, after English, but Chinese is more popular than ever now."
- HK commemorates 25th anniversary of Basic Law
- Chinese city removes family consent provision for body donation
- Solar Impulse 2 Pilot appeals for clean future
- Chinese vice premier meets Thai princess
- Northeast Chinese government fined for destroying family tombs
- China live broadcasts pandas' failed natural mating
- Former president Fidel Castro appears in public in Cuba
- Now and then: Changing funeral trends
- Chinese honor war heroes on Tomb Sweeping Day
- Lunar eclipse turns the moon 'blood red'
- 2015 New York International Automobile Show kicks off
- Ancient 'Xiangshi' kicks off in Wuzhen
- Golden moments at jewelry show
- Luoyang, the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
What do we know about AIIB |
Full coverage of Boao Forum for Asia |
Annual legislative and political advisory sessions |
Spring Festival trends reflect a changing China |
Patent applications lead the world |
BC lures Chinese tourists |
Today's Top News
China promotes eco-friendly burials
US benefits from high-level engagements with China: Lew
China to develop city clusters along middle reaches of Yangtze
HK commemorates 25th anniversary of Basic Law
Family consent not needed to donate corpse for research in Guangzhou
Xi plants roots of
green awareness
Li backs firms' global vision
China to standardize energy conservation by 2020
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |