Video sensation stirs serious issue on internet

English, Thai, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese dialect, German, Spanish and Korean - these are the languages a young boy in Cambodia, about 10 years old by his appearance, spoke when trying to sell some souvenirs to a French tourist. Upon hearing the tourist was an ethnic Chinese, he even sang a song in standard Chinese, changing the lyrics to "We are here to sell souvenirs to you".

The boy made the sale and got $5 dollars. And the tourist, with the online ID Venus Gwc, posted the video of the whole process on her social media on Friday. "How many languages do you speak?" she asked on the post. "What were you doing when you were his age?"

On Sunday, the video was posted on the Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter. Within 24 hours, it had been reposted over 10,000 times, with more than 30,000 "Likes".

"Even the humblest life has miracles", one comment said. Many people expressed their amazement at the young boy's linguistic talent in their comments. Some even joked, "Survival is the best teacher in learning a new language".

Yet the phenomenon also aroused deep worries among the commentators. "Fangtiii" said, "I was in Cambodia this summer and there are so many children like him. Locals told us not to give them money because that might encourage their parents to continue to let them sell the souvenirs. Better to give them books if you like them."

"The local government does not want us to buy things from the children because that might stop them from receiving their education," another person with ID He Xuexiang said.

The Cambodian government has actually made many efforts towards improving education in the past few years. According to the official website of their Ministry of Education, the dropout rate in that country decreased from 8.3 percent in School Year 2008-2009 to 5 percent in School Year 2013-2014.

However, the phenomenon might be more rampant in tourist regions, where people can make quick money by letting their children sell souvenirs to overseas tourists. Pan Yanxian, a doctoral researcher in Southeast Asian studies at the Guangxi University for Nationalities, said that during her many travels to various Southeast Asian nations she's more than once met Cambodian children trying to sell souvenirs to tourists. Sometimes they even come in groups and follow the tourist until that person buys something.

That has much to do with the bad economy of the country, Pan said, quoting the data that Cambodia's GDP ranked eighth among the 10 ASEAN countries and 10th when it comes to GDP per capita.

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute in Shanghai, said the phenomenon might curb a nation's development in the long run.

"Tourist regions have advantages over other regions, but if they misuse the advantage by making quick money at the cost of education, their future might be dimmed", he said. "I hope the situation arouses more discussion on social networks."