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2nd Foreign Language in ASIA ? | ||
Tags: Asian Languages | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Isarin Tetraglot Newbie Germany Joined 5639 days ago 34 posts - 41 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Japanese Studies: Czech, Mandarin, Italian | Message 17 of 20 22 July 2009 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
Thats a total myth. I spend several months in various part of China and a whole year in Japan and I can say that generally speaking a) there are very few Chinese or Japanese who have a decent level of English and b) the Japanese are till better at English than the Chinese. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| qklilx Moderator United States Joined 6186 days ago 459 posts - 477 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Korean Personal Language Map | Message 18 of 20 31 July 2009 at 12:30am | IP Logged | ||
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I can't say who's better at English between China and Japan---in fact that would be an absurd assumption to make since I think the ratio is pretty close. All the Chinese businessmen I've met at work, with the exception of no more than 5 (out of a few hundred) were unable to communicate in English under any circumstance. One was so bad he pulled out his phrasebook and said to me "I don't know" in response to my very slow and deliberate self-introduction. I've also lived in Korean dormitories occupied by a large number of Chinese students, and funnily enough there were more girls who could speak some English, compared to a meager 2-3 guys.
Granted, I've never been to China itself so I can't speak for the majority of the population, but so far I'm convinced that they do not know English. Although I'm told that in Shanghai and Beijing English speakers are much easier to find. But that's less than 5% of the population eligible for English speaking. But to be on topic, I'd say that the 2nd foreign language in Asia overall is probably Japanese at the moment, though Mandarin is catching up fast in areas that believe China is the next economic power. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| noriyuki_nomura Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 5340 days ago 304 posts - 465 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Japanese, FrenchC2, GermanC2, ItalianC1, SpanishB2, DutchB1 Studies: TurkishA1, Korean | Message 19 of 20 26 April 2010 at 10:43am | IP Logged | ||
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In Singapore, as it's a country that has 4 official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil), I think the most popular foreign language there is definitely Japanese, followed by French and German. But if I am not wrong, Korean is also very popular due to Korean dramas and movies...hmm..maybe Korean has already become the most popular foreign language in Singapore after Japanese, pls correct me if I am wrong though :)
However, I do wish that Singapore could do more to promote the learning of regional languages (such as Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese etc), as it would foster better understanding and appreciation of neighbouring countries' cultures and languages... Edited by noriyuki_nomura on 26 April 2010 at 11:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MLC Newbie Hong Kong Joined 5577 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Cantonese, French | Message 20 of 20 26 April 2010 at 5:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here in Hong Kong, I'd say that many people are trying to learn French. This judgment is based on how crowded
my classes have been at the local Alliance Française. The AF has two locations, one in Kowloon and the other on Hong Kong Island. Both places seem to have no shortage of students. Edited by MLC on 26 April 2010 at 5:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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