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The onset of 2018 has marked the launch of trade wars between the United States and China, the world’s two major economies, that have escalated to the highest level. With China’s labor costs consequently seeing an annual increase, many multinational companies have accordingly shifted their production lines from China to Southeast Asian countries. These Southeast Asian countries, in the interim, have gradually gained greater power and prosperity. In order to consolidate the relationships with their Southeast Asian counterparts, many countries have put forward corresponding strategies, such as the US Asian-Pacific Rebalancing, the Indo-Pacific strategy, and Japan’s New Tokyo Strategy. Such strategies have repeatedly proven that the Southeast Asian region is an area of growing prominence in the future.
The sustainable economic growth of Southeast Asian countries has strong ties with, and is inseparable from, Taiwan, a member of both Asian and the Asian-Pacific region. The bilateral relationship between Taiwan and the ASEAN countries has extended to multiple fields such as science, technology, tourism, education, labor, and culture. To prove itself as an important member of both Asian and the Asian-Pacific region, Taiwan must respond to the changing trends toward regional integration and global conditions by making suitable adjustments.
In 2016, the New Southbound Policy was launched and highlighted a new direction and motivation for a new stage of Taiwan’s economic development, aiming to redefine Taiwan’s indispensable role in Asia, and to create future values. Through this policy, Taiwan looks forward to initiating wide-ranging negotiations and dialogues with ASEAN nations and South Asia, as well as New Zealand and Australia, with an eye to establishing closer cooperation and, together, achieving regional development and prosperity (The Office of Trade Negotiations, 2016).
The New Southbound Policy is an integral part of Taiwan’s economic and political strategy, in which Southeast Asian language learning plays a vital role in its success. One paramount goal is to enhance closer multilateral friendships and urge/encourage people-to-people exchanges. In addition, there have also been increasingly more foreign laborers and spouses coming from Southeast Asian countries. To improve ethnic harmony and people-to-people exchanges, it becomes paramount for people to understand the culture of ASEAN and South Asian countries and learn their languages. This is due to the fact that language is fundamental to the acquisition and construction of knowledge, and that it acts as a tool to communicate with others, conveying thoughts and inheriting cultures. As we acquire the language of another country, we also understand its culture at the same time.
Since the New Southbound Policy was launched, the Ministry of Education has also proposed The New Southbound Talent Development Program to cultivate talents. In addition, our government also hold out an olive branch to motivate people to learn Southeast Asian languages. For example, the Ministry of Education has subsidized public and private universities to foster talents who excel in such Southeast Asian languages. When people in Taiwan learn the languages in question for the purpose of doing business in aforementioned nations, they can receive some grants. In short, the New Southbound Policy and Southeast Asian languages learning have close ties and wide political implications.
Therefore, the focus of this study will be on questions concerning the New Southbound Policy and Southeast Asian language learning. The following questions help clarify the purpose of this study:
1.What are the recommendations of the concerned parties for the promotion of Southeast Asian languages and relevant policies for the cultivation of talent?
2.Does the New Southbound Policy have any impact on opening Southeast Asian language courses and the recruitment of Southeast Asian languages teachers?
3.Are government subsidies and free courses effective?
4.What are the motivations for learners to learn Southeast Asian languages?
This thesis will analyze the foreign language promotion policies in France, the Netherlands, and Tajikistan as a reference for Taiwan’s future endeavors to promoting Southeast Asian languages.
After analyzing foreign language promotion policies of the above three countries, the researcher found that all of them include foreign language learning in their compulsory education to give learners an opportunity to acquire that language, and with the increase in education levels, they can obtain different levels of languages education. As this learning progresses, they can also learn the culture of that country. In particular, the Netherlands and France will also set clear learning objectives for different levels of foreign languages education, in the hope of enhancing learners’ language ability. Finally, they also work actively with partner universities in foreign countries, encouraging learners to go abroad to improve their language skills.
The following are highlights that researcher advises the Taiwanese government to emulate when promoting Southeast Asian languages: 1. The inclusion of Southeast Asian language courses into compulsory education. 2. Setting learning goals with an aim to improving students’ language ability. 3. Focusing on a balanced development of listening, speaking, reading and writing, exposing learners to the culture of that (target) country. 4. Working more actively with partner universities in foreign countries and encourage students to go abroad. 5. Giving priority to promoting languages that have greater chances of usage.
The researcher adopts in-depth interviews and supplements these with the information collected from the Internet or periodicals. The study employs both to do a qualitative analysis to find the most reasonable answers possible.
In-depth interviews can help researchers understand respondents’ perceptions, opinions and feelings about certain problems or events. In terms of data collection, the researcher has selected the following as interviewees: the owners of language educational institutions in Taipei, and the chairmen of the departments of Southeast Asian languages, in order to learn about the current situations of the government’s subsidy policy in the promotion of Southeast Asian languages. The researcher uses semi-structured interviews together with questionnaires. The reason for this semi-structured interview is to control the content. On the one hand, the respondent can answer the questions beyond the scope of the questionnaire in a certain order, and on the other hand, they have some room to express their opinions. Interviewees enjoy the freedom to answer the questions, while the researcher understands the impact of New Southbound Policy on promoting Southeast Asian languages.
The following conclusions can be drawn from this study:
1.The promotion of Southeast Asian languages and pertinent policies for the cultivation of talent should commence with the addition of a greater variety of promotion pathways and teachers training.
2.The New Southbound Policy appears to have no significant impacts on the opening of Southeast Asian languages courses or the recruitment of Southeast Asian languages teachers.
3.Government subsidies and free courses must come with a censorship.
4.The government should evidently express to learners the purposes and goals of learning Southeast Asian languages.
Keywords: The New Southbound Policy, The New Southbound Talent Development Program, Promoting Southeast Asian Languages
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