Sales staff take up study of Mandarin

As Chinese travel abroad at an unprecedented rate, South Korea, now the leading destination for its neighbor's outbound tourists, is scrambling to keep up with the growing inflow of wealthy Chinese.

Myeongdong, Seoul's bustling pedestrian street for shopping, teems with so many Chinese tourists each day that shop sales staff have begun learning Mandarin to improve service.

A National Public Radio report said that some schools in South Korea are filling up with skin-care salespeople, whose bosses are paying for them to learn Mandarin.