More than 1,200 students in Myanmar sat for Chinese language HSK examination held across the country on Sunday, registering the highest number of candidates taking the annual examination.

The 2009 Chinese language HSK examination was sponsored by the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) and Chinese Embassy and Consulate-General in Myanmar.

Two more examination centers, Lashio and Taunggyi, were added this year in addition to Yangon and Mandalay.

As Sino-Myanmar neighborly and friendly ties as well as economic and trade ties continued to develop, the demand for human resources mastering Chinese language has become pressing, as a result of which more and more people seek learning Chinese language, Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Yangon Wang Ruiqing told Xinhua.

Examination organizer revealed that many Myanmar citizens sat for the examination which is described by education experts as equivalent to United Kingdom's GCE and United States' TOEFL level.

In recent years, speaking classes mainly for English, Japanese and Korean languages in additional to Chinese increased in Myanmar, especially in Yangon, with a total of more than 300 classes available in the city, according to local report.

Of the speaking classes, those for English language account for 50 percent, followed by Japanese, Chinese and Korean. The rest went to German, Thai, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.

Occasionally, there were also speaking contest for Japanese and Korean languages held in Yangon.

The growing number of learners for Chinese language over the past decade was attributed to the telecast of Chinese video features on Myanmar Television that prompted the interest of audiences.

Experts here also pointed out that the Myanmar people's increased interest in Chinese language is due mainly to the growing economic relations and exchange in numerous sectors between China and Myanmar since Myanmar adopted a market-oriented economic policy.

Businessmen here said despite growth in the number of Chinese language learners in Myanmar, high-level Chinese-Myanmar language interpreters for business negotiation are badly in need. As a result, Chinese delegations visiting Myanmar can hardly obtain high-level Myanmar-Chinese language interpreters.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2009)