Putonghua exam to test ‘everyday’ skills

With the aim of opening up Putonghua-testing to people from overseas by the fall, plans to launch a simpler and more colloquial version of the nationwide HSK examination to make certification more convenient are underway, Shanghai's education commission said on the weekend.

The new Chinese proficiency test is expected to be ready for expatriate students and employees in September and is meant to give foreigners new incentives to learn "everyday Chinese" as opposed to concentrating on the more structured and formal language skills that are tested on the existing HSK, a nationwide exam that has been certifying non-native Putonghua speakers since 1988.

"We've had a lot of complaints from foreigners that the HSK is too difficult and neglects to include more day-to-day language that can be more useful for living in China," Ling Xiaofeng, a press officer for the local education commission's management of language use, in charge of the project, told the Global Times Sunday. "The test will rectify that as it will center on capacity-based abilities rather than reading and comprehension skills, which are largely the focus of the HSK."

With cooperation from Shanghai University's College of International Exchange, the exam is being standardized according to the Chinese proficiency guidelines set by the country's national office that oversees the teaching of Putonghua as a foreign language, said Ling.

"It will be divided into elementary, intermediate and advanced levels, with oral skills being tested early on and written ones in the final stage," she added.

Ling said that the certification provided to foreigners who pass the test will be able to serve as a reference for companies and schools in their selection of job candidates and students, respectively.