namastemandarin

Mandarin lessons for Army troops along China border

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The Army utilizes officers trained in Chinese language as interpreters to break the language barrier.

GUWAHATI: In a first such move, Army troops deployed along the entire length of the Line of Actual Control with China will be trained in listening, speaking, reading and writing Mandarin, including military terminologies and application and even colloquial nuances of the Chinese language.

To break the language barrier on the ground, the Army utilizes officers trained in Chinese language as interpreters during formal meetings like commander- level talks, flag meetings and border personnel meetings, besides some at local levels.

“This is the first time a course will train every soldier, from jawans to JCO’s to officers, on the ground on the LAC on such a large scale,” a senior defence official said.
This course designed by Tezpur University, which is a central university located at Tezpur in Assam, will be of 16 weeks and will be conducted at the varsity from August. The headquarters of the Army’s 4th Corps, which is responsible for the India-China border in western Arunachal Pradesh, is also located at Tezpur.

Last year, Chinese media had shown PLA soldiers deployed at Qiudijiangela post on the south bank of Pangong Lake in Eastern Ladakh learning the Hindi language.
Defence PRO Lt Col Mahendra Rawat said an MoU was signed between the Army and Tezpur University on Wednesday for training the Indian Army personnel in Chinese Language.
“This Chinese language course will improve the in-house Mandarin expertise and empower the army personnel to engage with the Chinese military personnel as and when the situation demands. With improved Chinese language skills, the Army personnel will be better empowered to convey their points in a much more cogent manner. It will also help in better exchange of viewpoints and understanding of the Chinese PLA’s version of their activities during various interactions,” Lt Col Rawat said.

Tezpur University said the course designed by the faculty of the department of foreign languages will offer Indian Army personnel deployed on the Indo-China border basic familiarity with Chinese for security purposes. “The course is exclusively designed to cater to the needs of the Indian Army personnel often engaged in Indo-China border areas. The course intends to develop Army personnel in all four skills, viz. listening, speaking, reading and writing at an intermediate level,” the varsity stated.

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