CRI takes Bangla to Beijing

One will find a vibrant team there who are spreading Bangla language beyond the boundary through news, views and other programmes in Bangla. These Chinese nationals speak Bangla so nicely that any native speaker will be surprised with their choice of all common Bangla words and also the less used difficult ones. Though they have Chinese names, each of them use Bangla names, too so that they can communicate with each other smoothly. The UNB correspondent met the 20-member team, including its leader Yu Guangyue alias Anandi during his recent visit to China. They shared their immense affection for Bangla during conversations with a Bangladesh delegation comprising members of think thanks and media. Sharing stories about her deep affair with Bangla, Anandi said she studied at the Institute of Modern Languages under Dhaka University for three years a couple of decades back. "I joined the CRI in 1995 and became Director of its Bangla Department in 2003," Anandi said. She said it is rare to find Bangla-speaking people in China and most of them work in Bangla Department of the CRI. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh in October and he wrote an article for Bangladeshi media marking his historic visit. Anandi translated the article into Bangla which was published in a leading Bangla daily. "I'm delighted to be part of it. Through this translation I think Bangladeshi people could easily understand China's top leader's messages," Anandi said. She said they are aware of rapid changes in the media landscape and laid emphasis on mobile journalism. "It's not only important for you, but also for us. I think it will be good for us to have similar workshop on mobile journalism." Referring to CRI Vice President Xia Jixuan's visit to Bangladesh with the Chinese President, Anandi said, "He came from Bangladesh with a high hope. We see scopes for greater collaboration with Bangladeshi media outlets in the coming days." Earlier, the Bangladesh delegation, led by former Bangladesh high commissioner to the Maldives Prof Selina Mohsin met CRI Vice President in Beijing and discussed various issues of mutual interests. Xia Jixuan laid emphasis on strengthening cultural and people-to-people contact between the two countries, including collaboration among media outlets from the two countries. CRI started its journey on December 3, 1941 and now it runs programmes across the world in 65 languages, including Bangla. CRI started its Bangla programmes on January 1, 1969 and Bangladeshi listeners in Dhaka, Chittagong and other parts of the country can hear the programmes. On November 1, 2004, CRI launched its Bangla website. Currently, CRI Bangla Department has 14 Bangla-speaking Chinese nationals and four Bangladesh nationals.