This year is the year of the Chinese language in Russia. It is quite natural that numerous events dedicated to the Chinese language and culture inspire the interest of Russians to China. How can you stay indifferent to that country after watching a slide show with beautiful nature, architectural monuments, attending a show of the Chinese circus and getting familiar with Chinese art?

While tens of thousands of Chinese can sing the Russian song Katyusha, thousands of Russian families regularly watch a Chinese teaching TV program named "Hello, China."

The classroom walls at the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual primary school here are decorated with Chinese calendars and banners. Chinese lanterns hang from the ceilings of the main entrance hall. There are stacks of new Chinese language books in the staff room, provided by the Chinese authorities, who also send two teachers a year, depending on the school’s needs.

The two giant neighbours [China and India], which are also partners in trade, need to understand each other to make the best of each other's needs and strengths.What better way than to introduce each other's language in their respective education systems. The proposal to institute an exchange programme of scholars between the two countries and cooperation among universities also has a similar logic to it.

As part of a new nationwide initiative, 350 foreigners will descend this week on rural and impoverished Georgian public schools to teach English. The initiative, "Teach and Learn with Georgia," is the brainchild of Georgia’s staunchly pro-Western president, Mikheil Saakashvili, who announced in August an ambitious program to have every Georgian schoolchild speaking English in the next four years. English language and computer skills are essential to Georgia’s economic and technological development, he said.

US troops rely on local Afghan interpreters in the mission to win hearts and minds in the Afghanistan war. But many learn crucial languages on the job, resulting in deadly mishaps.

South Korea has another item that’s ready for export. This time it’s not another high-tech marvel but a product of the country’s ancient culture, its own unique writing system known as Hangul, and it’s going to become the alphabet for a tribal grouping in a remote corner of Indonesia.

...why are fewer students choosing to take French? And no offence to the likes of Charles De Gaulle, Asterix and the Michelin Man, but does it really matter?...The sudden decline in French-speaking could mark the end of a long-held attachment the British have felt to the language.