More English speakers in China than America, really?

[Stanfordian]

There is currently an advert for an international Bank on Classic FM that states that there are more English speakers in China than America. Can this really be true?

[Don Petter]

One could say there aren't many English speakers in the latter.

[Beef Oven]

Did you know that if you stood all the people in China on top of one another, more than a billion people would be crushed to death?

[Nick Armstrong]

Did you know that if you stood all the people in China on top of one another, more than a billion people would be crushed to death?

Don't give up the day job, Beefy!

[MrGongGong]

Don't give up the day job, Beefy!

That is his day job
he is in charge of smoked herring statistics but would rather stay at home listening to obscure
music than actually find things out
though I view him in the same way that Catholics regard closed orders of nuns,
I'm reassured that there is someone spending their days listening to it all
as it's what makes the crops grow and the sun come up in the morning

[Thropplenoggin]

The statisticians would seem to disagree: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ing_population

But whoever believed them?

[Lateralthinking1]

The claim appears to have emanated from Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman and his team. Huntsman, fairly normal and decent by the standards of American Presidential candidates, can speak Chinese and has a good knowledge of the country.

Asked to check on his repeated assertion in 2011-12 that "it’s interesting to note that the largest English-speaking nation today, or soon to be, is China", the team looked at the EF English Proficiency Index. It stated:

"The British Council estimated in 2010 that India had anywhere between 55 and 350 million English speakers while a report published by Cambridge University Press estimates that China has 250 to 350 million English learners".

The team added: "It appears that China is poised to surpass India in the number of English speakers in the coming years, if it has not already done so."

[Pabmusic]

Interesting thread. 'English speakers' may mean those who speak English as a first language, those who have learnt it at school and use it regularly, or those who have learnt to speak it for fun. China doesn't have many who are in the first category, and I don't suppose India or Pakistan do either, but it may well be that English is taught to all pupils and it may be used. That is exactly what happens here in the Philippines. Mrs Pab's native tongue is Ilonggo, but she learnt Tagalog and English from elementary school age, and is fluent in both (and Visayan too) and uses both when speaking to Filipinos from somewhere else.

I can recall and occasion in the UK when she was chatting on Facebook (by typed speech, not audio) simultaneously with her brother in Ilonggo, one niece in Tagalog, and another niece in Visayan. 'Ping' would go the computer and up would come a paragraph in one language; Mrs P would answer it and 'ping' - a different language would appear in another window; Mrs P would quickly type a response and return to no. 1 (which she hadn't finished typing). Then 'ping' - a third language to divert her attention. This continued for at least half an hour, during which Mr P kept interrupting in English, with useful things such as - "Who's that?", "Has she heard from X yet?, "Where's those socks I left on the chair?" and other such helpful things, all of which Mrs P would respond to in English - her responses becoming more succinct each time. It was a very impressive feat, rather as if someone tried to hold simultaneous conversations in Dutch, Danish, Swedish and English.

It is not surprising that so many Chinese learn English, though (as usual, perhaps) we're not so ready to learn Chinese. Perhaps we won't have to, because commentators have long predicted that English will be come an international lingua franca (ironic expression) - and that might well be the case. But if it does, it is unlikely to be in a guise that we recognise.

[handsomefortune]

as a matter of fact, i am trying to learn mandarin from my next door neighbour, but am finding it goes in one ear and out of the other.... really hard to remember even the simplest word sounds long term.

a dictionary would help.... as i could then have a phonetic reminder plus the meaning. next door could borrow the dictionary, learn from the part that's written in chinese to english. especially as the eldest child is nearly ready for school, and only knows the expression 'way to go' which isn't going to be nearly as useful as 'yes' or 'no' for instance!

still, it's incredible what we can achieve in terms of basic communication as next door neighbours, by just miming stuff, and pointing at relevant objects/etc.