Advertisement
Advertisement
China society
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Traffic police officer Yi? who speaks four languages comes to the assistance of a foreign visitor to Xian. Photo: Handout

Welcome! Bienvenue! Chinese cop wows visitors with his foreign language skills

Former English-language teacher says it’s his duty to be the friendly face of his city, while also upholding the law

A traffic police officer in northwest China became an ambassador for his city recently after wowing tourists with his mastery of foreign languages, local media reported.

Filmed by a news crew while on duty in Xian, capital of Shaanxi province, officer Yi Yang could be seen effortlessly switching between English and French as he conversed with people arriving in the city for the end of the Silk Way Rally 2017, news portal Cnwest.com reported on Monday.

“As a traffic police officer who knows foreign languages, it’s my duty to ... remind foreign visitors to abide by the traffic laws,” Yi said.

“At the same time, it’s important to demonstrate the spirit of international friendship and show the friendly side of Xian.”

As well as English and French, Yi, who works with the Yanta Squad of Xian Traffic Police, is also happy chatting in Japanese and Russian, the report said.

“This guy is awesome,” an admirer wrote on Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter, after seeing the video clip online.

Yi was quoted as saying that before joining the police he worked as an English-language teacher. He majored in English at university and while there also taught himself Japanese, Russian and French.

This is not the first time Yi has made headlines, however. In January, he was featured in several newspapers after working late to make sure a motorcycle belonging to someone who was hurt in a traffic accident was safely returned to the owner’s home.

Post