IT is time for her furry charge to learn a new language: English.

Attendant Xu Yalin has been caring for - and speaking in the Sichuan dialect - to the 2-year-old male giant panda cub she has named "Wujie".

Together with a 1-year-old female cub, Wujie will besent to Singapore for joint research in 2011.

And Ms Xu is worried that Weijie will not understand his new attendants here if they speak to him in English.

Now, when she calls out to him in Sichuan, "Wujie, Wujie, come out to eat!" he immediately responds and leisurely ambles out of his "house" within the Ya An panda reserve in Sichuan province.

The moment he spies the "wo wo tou" snack Ms Xu has for him, his movements speed up and he runs to the centre of the outdoor yard, reported Lianhe Zaobao.

Ms Xu feeding the male panda, which she calls Wujie.

A "wo wo tou" is a small, cone-shaped steamed bread made of corn.

Wujie then grabs the snack with his paws, plops down onto the ground and starts munching.

As the crumbs drop all over the cub, Ms Xu explains that giant pandas have poor sight and have to relyontheir hearing and smell.

She says that she has always spoken to Wujie in the Sichuan dialect and wonders how he would adjust to English-speaking attendants in Singapore.

The female panda.

"It is now time for the attendants to train them to understand English," she says, glancing over as Wujie starts licking the "wowotou" remains off the ground.

Ms Xu and Wujie were both transferred to the Ya An panda research centre from the Wo Long centre after the massive earthquake destroyed the latter.

Many pandas had run off during the earthquake.

When things settled down, many of the pandas returned to the centre on their own.

For their safety, the Chinese authorities decided to move all the pandas to Ya An.

Sentimental

Ms Xu is in charge of caring for four pandas, including Wujie and his twin brother, Wujun.

With a smile, she says: "Wujie is lively and more obedient. He likes doing these little actions, like licking his feet and kissing other pandas' faces."

She says Wujie's father was born and bred in the wild so the young panda is of good stock.

Of Wujie's imminent move to Singapore, she says: "I feel very emotional and can't bear to see him go. If I have a chance, I'll definitely visit him in Singapore."

This article was first published in The New Paper.