Comments

Hi Jim. How are you doing? I have a confession to make. After commenting on your blog last time, I didn’t have much time to come here. A few days ago, I changed a new job and always had lots of things to learn and as you can imagine, I often worked overtime. Bad, en? But now, I’m getting a little familiar with the job process and I think I can come here to see you and other guys more frequently. So believe me, since yesterday, I’ve read all your blogs from last one which I commented to your latest update. BTW, the picture is very nice and you jumped so high. Oh, you mentioned the solar eclipse, yesterday it’s cloudy in Beijing and we saw nothing here. My brother who is working in Shanghai, he made a living broadcasted to me on MSN and told me he saw parts of the solar eclipse, about one or two minutes it’s totally dark there like midnight. He said he’s luckier than me and comforted me with ‘you can see some pictures on the internet’. Couple years ago, I think the English education system here in China is exactly like what you described about Korea. When I was in middle school and high school and even in college, we don’t have any foreign English teachers. The native English teachers focused on grammar, phrase, article analysis, and writing, etc. I don’t think we can blame them, because the pressure of entering a higher school is very huge and we must try to pass so many examinations and don’t have that chance to practice our spoken English. But after graduating and working, I realized spoken English is more and more important now. So I try to improve my spoken English, such as watching CCTV international channel to listen and learn. Besides that, I often visit some English websites like BBC LE. When I read some beautiful sentences, I’ll write down and read again and again. Of course many sentences from your blog were copied by me, I like your writing style. Some years past, I can feel that the education system in China is changing. We often say ‘Quality Education’ nowadays. Passing examinations is still very important to both teachers and students, but now they are concerning more than that. In my company, some stuff’s spoken English is very good and I should work hard to catch up with them. The more I practice, the better my spoken English will be. Right? Weather forecast said there will be a rainstorm tonight. So many rains these days. Is this a too long comment? Hope you don’t mind. Talk to you next time. Best wishes for you. From Jingjing in Beijing.

Hello, Jim! I watched the video and I agree with him. Learning English has given me the opportunity to get information from many other sources and to participate on a wider conversation (like this blog). We can say that in sciences there are two universal languages: English and Mathematics. A scientific article for the international community is written in both languages, as well as the advanced books used in my area (Physics). I studied English as a compulsory subject during my school life, but the level of the classes didn't increase really much and the emphasis was only on grammar (we hardly ever spoke English). To really learn English and practice orally, I had to go to a language school and use the Internet, books, games, etc. Nice discussion. Take care.

Hi Jim, great picture of you on the beach. You seem to be on the air. My experience of learning English was in a learning language school. I started at regular school. It's part of the curriculum. But schools usually can't really offer good quality teaching due to the short time dedicated to it and the large number of students in class. So if you want to learn more you have to go for a language learning school which sometimes is expensive. But nowadays there is a great number of other possibilities. Back when I was a student we didn't use to have the same facilities as now students do. I remember buying a small short wave radio to try to follow bbc special English programs. Well, ultimately I think it depends on the person's effort. My brother had the same conditions as I did but he didn't get the same development for he was not as interested as I was. Now we can count on this great website to help us learn more about the English language. Thank you for your great help. See you more soon, Mauricio.

Hi Jim, thank you for sharing the link to the TED video, it was really interesting to know for example that China will be the largest English speaking country in the world!. About the English classes, usually they are more oriented in grammar and writing. One way to change that is changing the content of international exams like the TOEFL that now includes a speaking section to evaluate the real English knowledge that would be used in the foreign country. Thanks, P.S. Nice photo.

Thank you for another interesting post. I believe your impression of Korean students can be perfectly applied to us, Japanese students. The education system in Japan is similar to that of Korea, which sadly contributes to youngsters’ loss of interest in learning “real” English. But the government is trying to change it, with more emphasis on communicative skills. Last year, a programme called as “Foreign language activities in elementary schools” is officially implemented. Pros and cons of elementary school foreign language study are still discussed, though. Why are we so afraid of speaking? Probably we have no confidence in our pronunciation, we are too afraid of making mistakes, or too embarrassed when we fail to make ourselves clear….With a lot more useful resources for learning foreign language available online than there used to be, I wish Japanese children enjoy learning English, or any other foreign language, to broaden their mind and make friends.

Hi Jim, I agree with you Jim even In India many of the English teachers have given emphasis on grammar while teaching English especially in the primary school level. That was one of the reasons why I hated to learn English in my earlier part of my life. Now I have got ample of opportunity to listen and write many ways. Many wonderful websites provide us with useful materials to ability to communicate with native speakers of English like you.

Hi Jim, In my opinion, there are two causes that spoken English of Taiwanese is so bad. 1) we don't have enough English teachers who could teach spoken English. 2) Our education system does not focus on speaking or opinion's expression, even in our Chinese class. Teacher is always right, student cannot object the teacher's. In other words, the students don't have the opportunities to express(speak out) their own personal opinion. Speaking(even in Chinese/mandarin) is a hard thing( that why people reckon Asian are always shy), not mention the spoken English, Best regards, James.

Hi Jim, I hope you've been doing well. I have been really busy with hosting friends who came here to visit me, so, it would make me very happy if you'd just let me know that I'm forgiven! I do agree with you almost everything about learning English, and it never can be an easy task to do, however, it can be done or learnt by doing a lot of practice. Last time, I told you about how difficult it's learning a foreign language in adulthood, but I'm still in my twenties, that is I'm 26 years old. As always, I appreciate your great job. And I wish you all the best future, Abdisamad

¡Hola Jim!. Well, I really think that learning a foreing language is a complicated task but it´s true that it´s also a rewarding experience. It is generally advisable to travel to the country where the language is spoken to learn more and better. The main benefit of being in an English speaking country is that you know that you need English to communicate with other people, you have a real need to use the language. I do not want to exaggerate, but you need to survive and you realise that it´s essential to say what you really want in order to get what you are asking for. To put it blunty, languages are made to be able to have a better relationships among people, not to pass an exam, so when you really learn a language is when you need to live (I mean, buying food, talking with people, looking for a job and so on), and, I guess that that is only possible if you go to England or United States...etc (if you´re learning English), Germay (if you are interested in German) or Spain (if you want to talk Spanish). But, you know what?, one of the things I love about learning a language is reading books in their original language, without any translations...That is great!.I often feel very proud when I finished a book in a foreing English. By the way, talking about languages, which ones do you speak?. I am learning German too!!!. So... Tschüs!, ¡Nos vemos!, See you soon!

Hi Jim. I've been shocked by the point of view of Jay Walker video. The amount of people that are starting to learn english, and the huge effort that somebody make for learn it are concepts that have never came to my mind. My english learning experience is not usual -I suppose-. I'm 45 and I studied in school. I wasn't a good student and I wasn't concerned about anything ("easy life of silly teen" could be my tag). Fortunately I've known to walk at the rithm that modern life is demanding. I had to start again to improve my lost english 6 years ago because my job needed this skill. I must confess that I'm not concerned on to get any oficial degree. I'm only concerned in to keep a real conversation of any subject in any environ. For me, a language is a tool of comunication. If I can communicate, for me it's enough. In other words, I prefer to get my problems off the hook rather to speak or write a perfect english but being incompetent in the real comunication face to face. My position has its dark side. Surely I'm one of those that are contributing to reach english as the worst language that is keept in the world. (Sorry)

Hi Teacher Jim.. this topic is very interesting. the teaching of english here were not taken seriously for a long time.it was just really made in the private schools. for some time my country thouht that we should speak a secret code as a language, so even the portuguese spoken here is year by year getting far for the others countries like portugal,angola, moçanbique and others..the offcial school system seems to have as idea to make the studets hate the language teaching english in such way that most of the srudents start to hate the language. I learn english by means of a tranlations system where just books and dictionaries were available.. our teacher was very afraid af pronouces the most simple words..conversations were absolutely prohibited on the classes. so I have to fight a lot to learn, english were always associeted the the americans and its colonialism. its nece to see that this has been changing. today the teaching of english has been done in such a way that the classes of english are very expected by the students, with songs, movies, games, and seen as way of comunication with the whole world and the americans too..the real way of have the problens solved by the single fact of leaning with others people. now we are making a ortograf reform in order to write as portuguese, angolans and moçanbicans..uff, until the end we dicide to be part of the world..speaking two languages that doen´t means in any way to loose our identity. but we are late the chinese, indians, russians, star the run first. the we have one thing that can help us is the fact that the latin hetitage can put us ahead of others countries. thanks teacher..

Hello Jim! The video is very impressive. I´ve never seen a large amount of people repeating their English lessons as a kind of mantra. It´s a bit spooky, but I totally agree with Jay Walker. Nowadays, learning English means hope for a better future and a link with the globalized world. Well, I didn´t have an effective experience of learning English in my primary and secondary school. During the six years that I was taught English I only learnt the present tense of the verb to be. Even nowadays public schools take English teaching for granted. On the paper the curricular paramater for the teaching of English is perfect. However, when it comes to the practice in the classroom the reality is quite different. Actually, education itself is a issue that my country must look more carefully. Anyway, I´ve just learnt English properly when I signed up for classes in an English school. Last year I took the FCE exam which I passed (yppiee!),and currently I´m preparing for the CAE and I´m also in the first year of an English undergratuate course. Learning English gave me the opportunity to make friends and know more about many things that I´m interested. Have a nice weekend, Ana Paula.

Hi, Jim! Just now I watched the video you linked in your entry. Some of the segments reminded me of my English learning experience in college. It was nearly ten years ago when I was still a college student. At that time, LiYang Crazy English was big among Chinese people, especially students. And some of my classmates also recommended me to buy his tapes. You know, as college students, we still have to face the pressure of passing examinations like CET (College English Tests ). But I think such kind of teaching programme is not my cup of tea though it do have its benefits, like persuading people to open their mouth instead of being dumb English learners. Well, in terms of solar eclipse you mentioned, we were luck to have experienced up to six minutes of complete darkness. I think most Chinese people have fortunately experienced the whole process of solar eclipse, as it is also called “ Chinese solar eclipse”. How lucky we were, as it only happens once in a bule moon. Though in ancient China, a total eclipse was seen as a bad omen and thought linked to natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and disease, we no longer feel panic and scared as we have moved with times.

Thank you for another interesting post. I believe your impression of Korean students can be perfectly applied to us, Japanese students. The education system in Japan is similar to that of Korea, which sadly contributes to youngsters’ loss of interest in learning “real” English. But the government is trying to change it, with more emphasis on communicative skills. Last year, a programme called as “Foreign language activities in elementary schools” is officially implemented. Pros and cons of elementary school foreign language study are still being discussed, though. Why are we so afraid of speaking? Probably we have no confidence in our pronunciation, we are too afraid of making mistakes, or too ashamed when we fail to make ourselves clear….With a lot more useful resources for learning foreign language available on the Internet than there used to be, I wish Japanese kids enjoy learning English, or any other foreign language, to broaden their mind and make friends.

Hi, Jim! Just now I watched the video you linked in your entry. Some of the segments reminded me of my English learning experience in college. It was nearly ten years ago when I was still a college student. At that time, LiYang Crazy English was big among Chinese people, especially students. And some of my classmates also recommended me to buy his tapes. You know, as college students, we still have to face the pressure of passing examinations like CET (College English Tests ). But I think such kind of teaching programme is not my cup of tea though it do have its benefits, like persuading people to open their mouth instead of being dumb English learners. Well, in terms of solar eclipse you mentioned, we were luck to have experienced up to six minutes of complete darkness. I think most Chinese people have fortunately experienced the whole process of solar eclipse, as it is also called “ Chinese solar eclipse”. How lucky we were, as it only happens once in a bule moon. Though in ancient China, a total eclipse was seen as a bad omen and thought linked to natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and disease, we no longer feel panic and scared as we have moved with times.

Hi, Jim. It's very interesting that you mentioned the topic of English mania and thanks for sharing with us such thought provocative video. I couldn't help saying a few words becuase as a Chinese colloge freshman majoring in English language and culture, i have just passed the Gaokao(College entrance examination) and I really want to share my personal experience. There is indeed an English mania in China as there is in the whole world. But in China, the situation is a little bit different due to the vast amount of population. When talking about the situation of english mania in China, the video focuses on Chinese High school students and personally, i think it is confusing the English mania among Chinese people with the problem caused by the fierce competition of college entrance examinations. The majority of those "crazy" learners of english shown in the video are sutdents and their purposes are the same: How to get higher marks in the exams so as not to be eliminated when they are still young. Actually there are manias for almost every subject. English is onyl one of them. Students pay more attention to English because to learn a foreign language well is really not that easy and since English is becoming increasingly important,it seems to be the key for success (Students who won prizes in English speaking competitions will get more chances and opportunies and are viewed as brilliant ones). It is indeed very utilitarian.