English lessons from garbage trucks
People in the Taiwanese city of Tainan are speaking a load of garbage these days as part of an innovative plan to improve English.
Last month, garbage trucks started broadcasting conversational English to announce their arrival instead of the usual pieces of music from Beethoven or Mozart. The idea was conceived by the mayor's wife.
To help people understand what is being said, a short conversation in English is followed by its Putonghua and Fukienese version and the conversation changes every few weeks.
When the plan was announced in April, mayor Hsu Tain-tsair said it would be the best way to promote the language.
'Even grandmothers and grandfathers will be able to speak the most basic English after listening a few dozen times,' he told United Daily News. 'This is Tainan's first step towards internationalisation.'
But local newspapers reported that most people seemed to have ignored the language. The smell of rotting rubbish drove them away.
Others said the garbage truck drivers would be the only ones to benefit from the innovation.
