ss wrote:
This seems to support my impression that the Chinese are far more serious about foreign languages than Indians are.
I've been traveling to China for only about four years now, so I don't have that much experience. But even in those few short years, I've seen a big difference in English skills at Chinese universities. It's not only that their actual language skills are increasing, but it's also that they are becoming more assertive about engaging verbally (which is very cool). I don't have the same experience in South Korea or in Japan, though, where I find the language barriers much higher. So, I do think the Chinese are much more hungry to reach out to West using English. I wonder where this places the already established markets of South Korea and Japan, actually, when in the near future (10 years?) there will be very large numbers of Chinese engaging in English to go along with the English already in India. Will the reshaping of the global economy toward Asia increase in speed as a result? By the way, I do know that Indian schools in Japan are *very* hot right now since they stress English (and math) from a very early age. There's one such school near my house, so I'll have to check it out for my little kid. :)
Jim -- http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris
