Sitting on a government committee

The Research, Development & Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan has appointed me a member of the Advisory Committee for the 2010 English Services Emblem Project.

This project aims to boost the level of English in the retail, medical and other sectors of Taiwan's economy, and to help foreigners find businesses where English is understood and labeling and signs are bilingual. Stores, restaurants, hospitals etc that think they offer a decent bilingual service apply to the RDEC for an 'English Emblem.' Those which pass a preliminary test are then visited by teams of judges (I'm one) who inspect the labels and signs, ask the staff questions, browse the website, and give a score which may lead to the business getting a 'gold emblem' or a 'silver emblem'.

In 2009, the team of which I was a member visited hospitals, clinics and drugstores in Taipei, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Hualien. This year, I've been inspecting restaurants, drugstores and shops in the Kaohsiung area.