The English language will soon be UK's largest export

[Blackleaf]

From The Sun -

English our top export



By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Deputy Political Editor

SELLING the English language is set to be Britain’s biggest export by 2020 — earning £20billion a year.

Gordon Brown wants to cash in on China’s huge demand for English teaching.

The Chancellor will this week launch a plan to set up franchises of famous schools and universities there.

China’s one billion-strong population needs to speak our language to compete on the world stage.

Eton College and Oxford University already have Chinese campuses.

Eventually every British school and college will be twinned with one overseas.

A source said: “Gordon knows that everyone in the world wants to learn English.

“This is a huge opportunity for us.”

English is compulsory for Chinese pupils from the age of six but there are not enough teachers.

Chinese students will be allowed to work in Britain for a year after they finish college.

An English-learning website will be set up called E-China and the online service in2English is to be expanded.

British education has doubled in value as an export since 2000, earning £10bn.

Mr Brown also praised JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books for spreading the English language worldwide

thesun.co.uk

 

[Andem]

The English language has always been a top seller by the Brits. Continental people usually prefer to learn British English but I've found a lot these days are trying to emulate an American accent.

The Canadian English accent is also a top seller in the US, as I've noticed a lot of International broadcasters such as CNN try to talk like Canadians. If you listen carefully to NBC or CNN or whatever other news channel you want (minus Fox), a lot of the broadcasters have been trained to talk like Canadians.

 

[no1important]

RE: The English language

Thats good, as english is basically the world language and at least they will be teaching them proper english unlike the slang from you know where.

Now that you mention it Andem, you are right about cnn anchors and others minus Fox (which is not really news but a glorified "inside edition" type of station)

 

[Machjo]

Now here's a mind twister!

"From The Sun -

English our top export



By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Deputy Political Editor

SELLING the English language is set to be Britain’s biggest export by 2020 — earning £20billion a year.

Gordon Brown wants to cash in on China’s huge demand for English teaching.

The Chancellor will this week launch a plan to set up franchises of famous schools and universities there.

China’s one billion-strong population needs to speak our language to compete on the world stage."

Hmmm... I've met professors who's major was English, who were teaching English full time, and who's English was slipping because they had no use for it outside of the classroom while teaching it to their students. Yet she kept insisting on how useful it was! I'de met a few others likewsie who were fluent in English when they'd left university, and only two years later, it was slipping again! Wow, seems their English was really of use too. One English teacher couldnt' understand half the conversation I was having with a Pakistani because even though she was fluent in English, she only knew 'anglosaxon' English. Another French lady in Beijing was flipping mad one day when the waiter couldn't understand her English, despite both being fluent in it!

But believe me, folks, English is just so useful everyone and his dawg must learn it!

"Eton College and Oxford University already have Chinese campuses.


Eventually every British school and college will be twinned with one overseas.

A source said: “Gordon knows that everyone in the world wants to learn English.

“This is a huge opportunity for us.”"

Just visit a few Chinese forums (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn has a good one) and see how thrilled some Chinese are at the 'anglosaxonization' of their country as a result of yingyu re, otherwise known as English fever, with male foreign 'teachers' going there to spread their seed among the local ladies). Then we have the most reputed universities insisting that a white highschool grads (well, at I suppose they have that at least :? ) are considered preferable to non-whites with higher qualifications. Don't get me wrong, some highschool grads, surprisingly enough, have sometimes shown themselves to be better teachers than some with B.Eds or Masters in Applied Linguistics (makes me ashamed of my profession!). Scary, innit? And some of the ones who get caught up in this 'white native speaker with a British or US or Canadian accent' are among the educational elites! (University rectors and such!) Hey, you wanted capitalism in China, now you have it! University is business, folks! And the best part is, the Chinese, who earn on average 80 to 100 Canadian dollars a month, are now giving it to the British (talk about the poor helping the rich)!
Capitalism at its best! :wink:


"English is compulsory for Chinese pupils from the age of six but there are not enough teachers. "

Actually, that's not accurate. Chinese law requires them to start learning a foreign language as of the age of 10, and some regions give options other than English. the problem, however, is that many parents have been brainwashed that it is so cruicial to be able to communicate with Anglosaxonia... uhm, I meant,... the world, that they will spend their life savings to have their children learn English as of the age of three or earlier, to the extent that some research has found that over the last few years, the average competence of high school students in their native language is lower than that of their parents during their highschool years. Taiwan has already banned the teaching of English in kindergarten due to this very concern, and more newspapers on the mainland have started criticizing it more loudly as well. In the last year, universities have actually started to lighten up on english tests after many years of complaints from students who were held back from their degrees, despite high marks in all other fields, just because of the English test!

"Chinese students will be allowed to work in Britain for a year after they finish college.

An English-learning website will be set up called E-China and the online service in2English is to be expanded.

British education has doubled in value as an export since 2000, earning £10bn.

Mr Brown also praised JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books for spreading the English language worldwide"

Hrry Potter, the epitome of culture! :?

thesun.co.uk

 

[Machjo]

I just don't follow the logic here:

1. English is international, yet in most Chinese institutions, including universities, only white native English speakers who speak with a British, US or similar accent are really worthy of teaching it, and if they can't be found, then any European or fair skinned middle easterner will do!

If you know English, you can communicate with the world, unless of course you're a Chinese waiter trying to understand French English, or a Finn trying to understand Chinese English, or a Chinese teacher of English trying to understand Pakistani English.

English is so useful, despite the fact that even among those for whom English is a major, many forget their English due to its lack of usefulness in everyday life.

English is also the language of science! Sure, it is! I'd met with plenty of professors of linguistics with whom I could communicate just fine through an interpreter.

Hmmm... There's something I just don't get here.

Oh, now I get it! The rest of the world, except for Anglosaxonia, just doesn't exist; it's a figment of our immagination. Now once we get that through our thick skulls, then we can see that it's all true. Who says Englsih is racist? All anglosaxons are white anyway, right?

Who says there is no international English which is equally acceptable for native and non-native speakers? Non-native speakers don't exist anyway; we're all anglosaxons in this world, no?

Silly me!

 

[Machjo]

Re: RE: The English language

Thats good, as english is basically the world language and at least they will be teaching them proper english unlike the slang from you know where.

Now that you mention it Andem, you are right about cnn anchors and others minus Fox (which is not really news but a glorified "inside edition" type of station)

Yeah right! In China I'd actually met a high school drop out teaching English, and he was from Canada. I'd also met Frenchmen, Russians and even Uighurs teaching English, but the Chinese teachers of English were better.

I'd also met Filipino teachers, and guess what! While they might not have fit the stereotype on the English teacher, they were excellent! Yet the school still always had to fight the students over them because of the skin colour!

And here's the other issue. Because of this idea that all foreign teachers are white, it does sometimes happen that Uighurs, Khazaks, Kirgiz and Russian Chinese will be addressed with an Englsih 'Hello', just to get offended at the implication that they must be foreigners just because their white, despite their being born in China and holding its citizenship.

The racism around the Englsih language in China has become so accute, most educated foreign teachers (as opposed to the 'backpack' teachers) will refuse to speak English after a few moths outside the classroom because of the repugnance of it! Most educated US teachers who don't know English will go out of their way to spend their free time with Spanish speakers; their Canadian counterparts, French, and so on, with exceptions depending on the second language spoken. I'll sometimes spend time with Esperanto, French, or (sinse I know some Chinese) Chinese speakers, and avoid Englsih speakers during my spare time.

And that's pretty much the reality of English in China, highly racialized.

 

[missile]

Until 2020,Britain's greatest exports will remain marmalade and tins of Spotted Dick.

 

[manda]

We should try to overthrow GB's hold on the market

 

[Machjo]

Oh, Canada ain't doin' so badly either. Just look at the number of foreign students going to universities in English Canada.