Language target set by leading university

Move to meet growing demand

BEIJING - With an expanding economy and increasing global role, China's need for speakers of less-commonly taught languages will soar over the next decade, and the leading foreign language university has pledged to meet the rising demand.

"The current number of languages we cover, 48, can't meet future need, so we plan to cover 89 less-commonly taught languages by 2020," Chen Yulu, president of Beijing Foreign Studies University, said.