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A new policy requiring civil servants in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, to be able to speak basic English by 2015 has sparked a debate between those who say it will make the city more international, and opponents, who find the measure burdensome and unnecessary. In a meeting held by the city government on Monday, a new policy that aims to improve foreign language skills in the city was approved. The policy document said the city will provide better language services in the future for foreigners visiting and living in the city. After completing government training, all civil servants in the city who have a university degree and are younger than 40 will be expected to know how to say more than 300 commonly used English sentences by the year 2015. The training programs will also cover bus drivers and conductors, taxi drivers, police officers, waiters in restaurants, hotels, post offices and banks as well as doctors and nurses. Around 80 percent of the people under the age of 40 in those service industries should be able to pass the English exams in 2015 and be able to converse with foreigners in English well enough to perform their services, according to the policy document. The 120 emergency call platform will also provide multilingual services to foreigners in the city. The city government's data showed that some 1 million foreign tourists visited Xi'an in 2011, and there are more than 5,000 foreigners living in the city for work or study. | 
