DEAR Editor,
It was mentioned in the SUN newspaper this week that the Prime Minister, on his recent visit to Taiwan, was surprised and delighted to learn that there were more than 100 Solomon Islands students in tertiary education centres in Taiwan studying Mandarin.
I offered by congratulations to all those students studying Mandarin as a second language for I, too, greatly benefitted from learning Cantonese at the Hong Kong Government Language School and found having the proficiency in Chinese, although not Mandarin, extremely useful when travelling in South-East Asia, particularly when returning to visit Hong Kong, in Singapore and also useful in mastering Thai, because both Cantonese and Thai are tonal languages.
I would encourage all Solomon Island students to consider studying a second language, especially those which will enhance their job prospects, travel opportunities and business development interests.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
