Abstract:In “the Belt and Road Initiatives” formulated by the Chinese government in recent years,Central Asian countries are one of the target areas with which China intends to establish all-round bilateral synergies and cooperation.This paper surveys the language situations and policies in Central Asian countries (i.e.,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan),and investigates the language needs in this geographically-broad region in order to have a better understanding of these countries and facilitate the implementation of the policy agenda.In terms of language policies,each of these countries has established their own national language,and uses Russian as inter-ethnic lingua franca and English for international communication.Drawing data collected from a questionnaire survey conducted in Tajikistan,this paper analyzes the language needs in Central Asian countries.It is found that Russian,as a major regional language,is the most useful and highly infl uential language in these countries,while Chinese language learning is mainly motivated by employment needs.Moreover,the importance of English and other languages is also on the rise.To address the language needs in Central Asian countries,it is proposed that the language programmes should be application-oriented,and efforts should be made to cultivate language talents with Russian profi ciency and literacy as well as professional skills.
邢欣 梁云. “一带一路”背景下的中亚国家语言需求[J]. 语言战略研究, 2016, 1(2): 39-46.
Xing Xin and Liang Yun. Language Needs of Central Asian Countries under the Background of “the Belt and Road Initiatives”. , 2016, 1(2): 39-46.