China is Losing Interest in English 50
An anonymous reader shares a report: In preparation for the summer Olympics in 2008, the authorities in Beijing, the host city and China's capital, launched a campaign to teach English to residents likely to come in contact with foreign visitors. Police, transit workers and hotel staff were among those targeted. One aim was to have 80% of taxi drivers achieve a basic level of competency. Today, though, any foreigner visiting Beijing will notice that rather few people are able to speak English well.
The 80% target proved a fantasy: most drivers still speak nothing but Chinese. Even the public-facing staff at the city's main international airport struggle to communicate with foreigners. Immigration officers often resort to computer-translation systems. For much of the 40 years since China began opening up to the world, "English fever" was a common catchphrase. People were eager to learn foreign languages, English most of all. Many hoped the skill would lead to jobs with international firms. Others wanted to do business with foreign companies. Some dreamed of moving abroad. But enthusiasm for learning English has waned in recent years. According to one ranking, by EF Education First, an international language-training firm, China ranks 91st among 116 countries and regions in terms of English proficiency. Just four years ago it ranked 38th out of 100.
The 80% target proved a fantasy: most drivers still speak nothing but Chinese. Even the public-facing staff at the city's main international airport struggle to communicate with foreigners. Immigration officers often resort to computer-translation systems. For much of the 40 years since China began opening up to the world, "English fever" was a common catchphrase. People were eager to learn foreign languages, English most of all. Many hoped the skill would lead to jobs with international firms. Others wanted to do business with foreign companies. Some dreamed of moving abroad. But enthusiasm for learning English has waned in recent years. According to one ranking, by EF Education First, an international language-training firm, China ranks 91st among 116 countries and regions in terms of English proficiency. Just four years ago it ranked 38th out of 100.
Of course (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Of course (Score:1)
Re: Of course (Score:1)
Yeah, yes. So poo to you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Better AI did this (Score:2)
Hopefully we can avoid learning any language. An AI can translate a series of gesticulations unique to the individual.
They stopped allowing online English tutoring... (Score:3)
About 3 years ago, they imposed a rule that would forbid English tutoring by foreign teachers online. They said that the expectations for kids getting into better schools were getting so difficult that it was causing families to not be able to afford having multiple kids. So, the government just made the blanket statement that forbid that tutoring, so they could say, "There! Now, education is cheaper! We fixed the problem!"
Re: (Score:2)
Re: They stopped allowing online English tutoring. (Score:1)
No, it wasn't. Don't let facts get in the way.
Re: They stopped allowing online English tutoring. (Score:1)
Iinm, it isn't "foreign teachers" but teachers located outside China.
America (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Came here to say something similar, along the lines of...
Even at 91st, China is still ahead of the US.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: America (Score:1)
The team of translators is there to accommodate all the illegals and would-be-illegals-if-not-for-Biden-granting-parole who have come over with the expectation of getting free medical care.
The wife did her training at one of these charity hospitals where people would literally be getting off the plane from Haiti or whereever and going straight to that hospital to get "free" medical care paid for by every taxpayer and everyone bitching about why their insurance premiums are so high. And of course these peopl
Re: (Score:2)
... oh right... promoting xenophobia.
I don't think the apparently increasing supply of Chinese xenophobes who are averse to learning English are reading Slashdot because - get this - it's primarily in English.
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing promotes xenophobia quite like a ShanghaiBill post.
Conversely... (Score:2)
How many citizens of the United States or of Great Britain are proficient in Mandarin? How interested are they usually in learning the languages of other cultures?
Chinese and English are very far away in too many aspects, so it's a big effort for both groups to learn the other's language. Both cultures are mostly self-oriented, so the motivation is little anyway...
Re: (Score:2)
"How many citizens of the United States or of Great Britain are proficient in Mandarin?"
I don't have any interest in Mandarin, but Clementine is an excellent music player.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Conversely... (Score:1)
Yeah, but 300 years is such a short time.
Are you American, and so think 300 years is a long time?
Re: Conversely... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
>"How many citizens of the United States or of Great Britain are proficient in Mandarin?"
Probably not many
>"How interested are they usually in learning the languages of other cultures?"
Very, apparently. In the US, it has been a requirement to take courses in foreign languages for ages. I am not sure the CURRENT status, but when I went through school, you had to take 3 years of one language or 2 years of two different languages if you planned on getting a degree. And the advanced diploma in high sch
How many can say (Score:1)
Pooh Bear?
Re: How many can say (Score:1)
How many? What is it now? 1.4 billion? Something like that...
why would they (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Because as horrible a language English is to learn, it is a hell of a lot better as a lingua franca than most alternatives.
Re:why would they (Score:4, Interesting)
re:China & Euro demographic collapse (Score:2)
Ironic if Joe's lax borders are saving us from a demographic collapse.
Prez #45 and #46 are both broken clocks that are right twice a day.
Re: (Score:2)
The world is looking down the barrel of a Trump presidency. The US can only hope to have it so good as a demographic collapse.
Re: why would they (Score:1)
People have been saying such things for years...it's a common a claim as this year being the year of the Linux desktop, or viable fusion electricity generation being only a few years away.
I suppose it could be true this time, but don't hold your breath...or feel free to...what do I care?
Re: (Score:3)
No, China's economy has been mostly stalled since the pandemic. This language hiccup is likely about Cold War II tensions rather than economic might. English is still the de-facto business language of the world, for good or bad. If you want to do world biz, then you still need to learn English.
Xi also started regulating China's rich heavier after a couple of plutocrats got too comfortable and dabbled in China's politics. The crackdown is driving out investors.
Re: why would they (Score:1)
"Mostly stalled" is an exaggeration.
Re: why would they (Score:2)
Idunno. They're in the middle of a bursting real estate bubble and population crash right now. China will endure, but it's no sure bet it will outshine anyone.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, we did get stuck with Clownus Tintus
Not Possible, because peogramming (Score:1)
What I saw (Score:2)
I found most drivers couldn't read Pinyin, the computer-version of Chinese, that had been an official language for over 40 years, at the time. At the internet cafes, I saw teenagers using Pinyin on QQ.
Chinese think most visitors are American. Although in the middle they thought I was French-Canadian, and going north, I was Russian, and going south, I was English-speaking.
While English-speaking countries happily adopted Americanisms, (and in 2005, several Americanisms were forced onto other countries), A
English just isn't that important. (Score:2)
There's truth to this, but it's a reflection of several things, that boil down to English just not being that important any more - in China that is.
It's perfectly possible to exist with minimal Chinese in China (I'm sure it varies).
I've lived in China for most of the past 21 years and still have what must amount to negligible Chinese (though I don't recommend it).
I moved to China from California to work at a school that was teaching English to people working to organise the Olympics...learning English was a
No Problem (Score:2)
If they don't want to learn English it will have no effect on me. I once dreamed of visiting China but no more.