If you teach students from China, you might want to be careful about using some fairly standard English acronyms with them.  The El Gazette has reported this month that “China’s broadcasters are now required to use Chinese translations of English acronyms in news reports”. On the blacklist are such things as “NBA (National Basketball Association), GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and WTO (World Trade Organization). TV journalists must provide the Chinese translations after naming the short forms, with translations also appearing in subtitles”.

A spokesman for the change ( State Administration of Radio, Film and Television) gave this for an explanation (more…)