Eric's Beijing Diary

These precocious youngsters got in my face this evening at the English corner. But they weren't interested in issues like most of the other people. They just wanted a chance to hear themselves talk. So I gave it to them. There are more and more young people coming to the English Corner now. Not as many children as adults, to be sure, because children have to be brought by their parents. But all over Beijing, private language schools are springing up to give children an early start speaking English. This is going to make a huge difference in the next generation. Can you imagine a China where significant numbers of people are actually native speakers of English, even though they have never been outside of China? It's probably going to happen. China is more and more an English speaking country.

Some of these kids are put in language study because they have an international connection. Perhaps they were born overseas due to the work of their parents. Or they are growing up in an international environment because one of their parents is non-Chinese. But many of them are studying English simply because their parents have decided that they will have a greater chance of success if they have multiple language ability. This is wisdom, because many foreign companies are coming to China, and those who have multiple language fluency will go to the top of the list.

But there is something else that is happening. China clearly recognizes the importance of English. Much more than Japan. But China is also interested in making the Mandarin language an international lingua franca like English. This is a switch. One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, when Robert Morrison was translating the Bible, it was against the law to teach Mandarin to a foreigner. Now China is going to great lengths to "export" Mandarin to the countries of the world. Mandarin learning centers are springing up everywhere. I think perhaps Mandarin has some limitations as an international language because of hanzi, but there is certainly widespread interest in learning it because of the rapid growth of the Chinese economy.