With short-term course in Chinese, GNDU pushes for language proficiency

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 14

During the recent national workshop on digital learning tools for faculty at Guru Nanak Dev University, Vice Chancellor Jaspal Singh Sandhu had highlighted reasons for the growing demand for Chinese and Japanese languages in the country. He had attributed the rising popularity of the two languages to globalisation and improved economic ties of the two countries with India.

With foreign languages in the resume giving the desired push during any job interview, language proficiency has become a necessary skill for employment today. To improve language skills of students and reach out to the maximum learners, the university has decided to start a three-month short-term course in Communicative Chinese from this academic session.

Dr Mohan Kumar, head, Foreign Language Department, on Tuesday said for admission to the course, the interested candidates could apply from January 15 to 25 and the counselling would be held on January 27 at 10 am in the department. He said the classes for the course would start from February 30.

“A tutor has been hired for the course. According to the response, we will start a six-month and one-year certificate course in Chinese soon. At present, the department offers courses in French, German and Persian language,” he added.

Free-of-cost course in Urdu

Understanding the demand for learning native languages, the district administration has been offering a free-of-cost course in Urdu at the district office of the Department of Languages at Sant Singh Sukha Singh School Chowk. The classes have been taking place since 2017. These have received a positive response in the past two years.

The university also offers a course in Urdu, but it is limited to literature students and those learning the language for competitive exams.