Regional Language Center opens at UCB

The Regional Language Center was inaugurated on Monday at the UCB Belmopan campus. The idea for the center was first suggested by Prime Minister Said Musa in the early 1990’s when he attended a regional meeting in Honduras as Belize’s Foreign Minister. He revived the concept at the beginning of his current term. The Prime Minister credits Taiwan’s Ambassador to Belize Kuo-Hsiung Shen with taking a hold of the project, getting the financing from the Taiwanese Government and helping to develop the plans for the facility. In the beginning the center will concentrate on teaching English and Spanish, but the Prime Minister hopes other languages will come on stream soon.

Kuo-Hsiung Shen, Taiwanese Ambassador

“Today some seven years after the decision was adopted, we are happy to be here to witness the inauguration of the Belize Regional Language Center, which was established in Belize…but we reserve the need of all the Central American countries in this region. Its primary function is to teach English speaking persons to speak Spanish and vice versa. The center symbolizes yet another milestone of the cooperation between our two countries.”

Prime Minister Said Musa

“I call on the people of Belize in the unique position that we enjoy – uniting the Central American and Caribbean sub-regions – to treasure and care for this building which so elegantly expresses our desire to become more engaged in the affairs of our region. And to live in peace and harmony with all. And I could not close without saying that even though the emphasis is on English and Spanish, I do believe that we have to also study other languages as well, including our own indigenous languages. But I also that feel from time to time I would want to call on the University to consider doing specialize courses, particularly for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We need to learn French; we need to learn Chinese, one of the biggest languages in the world today. So thank you all for coming out and it really has given me great pleasure to share in this exciting moment, thank you.”

For more information on language training at the Center, contact the UCB Belmopan campus.