Soft power has a lot to do with what is the most universally used language on this planet. No one can deny it is English.

That is incorrect. Spanish is spoken more widely, and so is Mandarin, especially at a fluent level. Franca lingua (yes, we use a french term to describe it in english) of many places yes, but hardly universally used. You ever tried travelling through South America or eastern Europe? Central or East Asia? Big world out there.

I've traveled a lot in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. I've seen a Mexican tourist ask for directions in Vienna in English. A Scandinavian couple in Tokyo using English at a subway booth to get info on how to buy a ticket. And there was a group of frustrated Japanese tourists in Budapest I ran into once at a corner store. They were trying to figure out if the water they were buying was flat or sparkling. The clerk who didn't have great English himself couldn't understand them because of their accent. So I stepped in to do some bad Japanese-English to bad Hungarian-English translation.

Soft power is not about how many people live in a certain country and speak the local language. It's about 2 people from countries with different languages using English as the universal tongue to facilitate communication.

Tons of people live in Spanish speaking countries and China is a huge Mandarin speaking country. But I've never heard a European try to use Mandarin to communicate in Latin America. Or an Asian trying to use Spanish to communicate in Germany.

>> Soft power is not
about how many people
live in a certain country
and speak the local language.
It's about 2 people from
countries with different
languages using English
as the universal tongue
to facilitate communication.

Agreed. Soft power is also consensual and simply convenient for cross-cultural communication, not imposed from above. I don't subscribe to a view on English predominance as a linguistic imperialism.

Native speakers of English may be losing their linguistic advantage as English is becoming more global and less embedded upon its Anglo-American heritage culture. As a moderate polyglot I feel superior :).

Have you ever published a scientific paper?

Get your facts straight bru. If you add up the native English speakers + those who speak English as a second language or 3rd language, the numbers will be way higher than any other language.

Spanish and Mandarin are spoken more widely than English? Sheer numbers of L1 + L2, Mandarin dominates, but the huge majority are in China. There are far more English speakers than Spanish speakers. Better check your numbers!

Not to worry.
In the very near future English will be passe.
Mandarin will be the mandatory language to learn.

Many so called English teachers from the United States are here because they cannot find a gig in the states.
I have talked to Koreans that learn English over the phone and via the internet.
Their "teachers" are in the Philippines.

TaoDaoMan

> Mandarin will be the mandatory language to learn.

You can't do math, science, and engineering in Mandarin; English cannot be replaced for those purpose and this is why the language that dominate Earth 500 years from now will still be English. So called the Mandarin era that you dream of will never come, because even most Chinese don't speak it fluently.

http://www.bbc.com/news/wor...

Beijing says 400 million Chinese cannot speak Mandarin

China's Education Ministry says that about 400 million people - or 30% of the population - cannot speak the country's national language.

Of the 70% of the population who can speak Mandarin, many do not do it well enough, a ministry spokeswoman told Xinhua news agency on Thursday.

Mandarin will never be an international language for several reasons, though the U.S. isn't the most popular country on earth, people still prefer it over Chinese hegemony. Mandarin's writing system is not practical for non-natives to learn and most will be turned off by the tonal pronunciation system.

Are you trying to tell me that China's, Russia's and India's space and nuclear programs are in English?
English and it's English speaking people will be a footnote in 500 years.
And so will Mandarin.
My guess is there will not be anyone left on the planet to speak. Period.
Maybe we should all start learning the language of the cockroach. :-)

TaoMaoMan

> Are you trying to tell me that China's, Russia's and India's space and nuclear programs are in English?

Yes, Chinese and Indian engineers study with English textbooks in college, produce English engineering documents and papers.

It simply is not possible to do math and science in a language other than English, because 90% of world's knowledge in math and science is in English.

yeah, the Chinese have to learn English to build anything...the first thing the engineers of the Great Wall did, before they even picked up a shovel, was to crack open those American English textbooks...

It seems you are all missing the point. Of course Mandarin is easy and practical for native Chinese speakers, and of course they built the Great Wall without English, but how is Mandarin for NON-NATIVE Chinese learners?? Practical? I don't think so. Japanese uses about half the characters of Chinese and they are very difficult to remember unless you live in Japan.

When hundreds of millions of Chinese are learning English, there won't be a need to learn Mandarin. China's elite all send their kids to study in Western schools and universities anyway. Guess which language they are all learning?

There will be a situation in the future that Chinese elite is bilingual in Mandarin and English and thus able to do business both at home and abroad.

But the elites in other countries will have limited Mandarin skills, especially in reading and writing, and that way facing a permanent natural barrier to do business in China.

In the near future when China population's ageing starts to be an issue, they will be able to allow immigrants in rather freely, since due to insufficient language skills, jobs available to immigrants will be low skilled and low paid. This is in stark contrast to Chinese immigrants elsewhere. Chinese can usually learn to speak, read and write other languages and pursue any local jobs they want.

Not to worry.
Even Mingze Xi and Guagua Bo had to learn English so that they can study at that corrupt mediocre reactionary American University named Harvard.

The next generation will be speaking more Chinese and English will become second language. People want to learn a foreign language due to business opportunities and China is the place to go now. Give it a hundred years. English is unnecessarily complicated for way too many ESL students. Why do they have to learn useless stuff? I think it is all Big Business, not really to serve the students but the teachers and the English teaching institutions.

Mandarin is useful only in China.
English is useful everywhere.

Because of Anglo imperialism! How disgusting!

Remember I give the necessary time frame to turn the tide. One thing I must say there is no elegant way to learn Chinese Easily so far. As usual like English, bad teaching is part of the problem.

Mandarin will never be a world language unless the writing system becomes romanized (like Vietnamese). Way too complicated.

I guess you never heard of Han Yu Pin Yin.

While I will concede that the Queen's English will go the way of the dodos (except in certain circles), I highly doubt that English will be passé. It is more likely that a highly bastardised form of English mandarin hybrid will evolve.

"Korean universities are believed to have a completion rate close to 100 percent"

Say what? Easy solution to this problem - actually employ some educational standards and stop just passing everyone who shows up to uni.

Do you know how HARD it is to get into a Korean University?

Who cares? I'm sure it's really hard. However, once accepted university, it is almost impossible to fail. Where is the incentive to learn or study?

The Western model is, IMO, far, far superior to the East Asian model. In the West, it is easy to get into most universities, but difficult to excel in your university courses without hard work. Isn't that the way it should be?

before 1910, Korea used to be China's colony. Every Korean student learnt Classical Chinese so that they could understand what their Chinese colonial masters ordered them to do. After 1910, Korea was part of the Japanese Empire. So Koreans learned the Japanese Language for the same reason. The Japanese Empire lost to the US in 1945 from then on South Korea has been America's vassal.. So what language should Koreans learn? No wonder
the descendents follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and there's the so called english fever in Korea.. Nowadays practically all sons and daughters of the Political elite in Korea are US citizens. Park Young-sun is one of the members of the parliament in Korea and quite naturally her son is proudly an American boy who now goes to school in his fatherland that is the US. Lee Seok Ki, who is also a member of the parliament, claims that he will fight to the death against American imperialists. However, his wife and kids emmigrated to the US and now US citizens. The list of influential politicians whose sons and daughters are Americans is simply endless. As the kids of all powerful aristocrats in Korea are all US citizens of Korean ancestry, we Koreans have to learn our masters' language or choose to starve.

Most Koreans would disagree with your interpretation of their history.

Even when China was conquered by the Mongols, Manchu, etc. Korea was always a "true believer" in the Chinese script and Chinese culture. True-blue fad followers, only the introduction of nationalism via the Japanese could really motivate anyone to elevate Korean and Hangul to a national script. No matter the system is soft-power, benign cultural influence, or straight-up imperialism, Korea seems to always "do the cool thing".

This article makes it sound like English teachers in South Korea are dedicated high end professionals. Are the standards really that high?

Of course not. You can't really test proficiency with standardized tests and speaking ability isn't that easy to acquire past a certain age. Even with English immersion, the vast majority do not become proficient. It's the semblance of proficiency they want, not actual proficiency, which means hopelessly broken English. To that end, native speakers are perhaps doing a credible job but their contribution is marginal. If you're born in 1 of the 3 countries whose languages are furthest removed from English, you're simply not gonna become proficient. For most Koreans, English education is a ritual. It will largely be useful in deciphering street signs and to brag about their knowledge of certain, arcane vocabulary to sound educated -- reflecting Korea's habit of memorizing Chinese phrases to sound erudite. Even after a lifetime of study, most cannot read and understand a wire service article or put a sentence together, let alone speak intelligibly in a complete sentence. Most people will be better served by channeling their time and energy taking defensive driving lessons or improving cooking skills.

I don't know what's wrong with placing high expectations on students.

There is a reduction in demands on native English speaking teachers at public schools because the first generation students who learned from native speakers are now returning to school as near-native English teachers, not because there is less demand for English teaching.

Let's make an example of PSY. Had PSY been a Japanese or even a mainland singer, PSY most likely not have been a world star. But PSY was Korean, one who happened to speak fluent English like many other Korean stars, and then the rest was history, touring the world.

You already see a similar effect in Japan, where Watanabe Ken is the most visible Japanese actor in Hollywood flicks not because he was the biggest name in Japan, but because he was the only decent English speaking Japanese actor available to be hired. In the absense of English speaking Japanese actors to fill Japanese roles, Korean actors were getting to fill those Japanese character roles, and that's all Japan's loss. In an attempt to explain why Korean actors/actresses are playing Japan-sounding characters in Hollywood movies, they are explained away as Zainichis(ie Storm Shadow in GI Joe, Raizo in Ninja Assassin, Han and DK in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, Aya of Make Your Move)

Seriously, even Hikaru Sulu in current Star Trek series is played by a Korean actor, and the only reason for this is that they couldn't find a suitable Japanese actor for this role. It just felt wrong to see some Korean dude playing Sulu even if George Takei gave his personal blessing, but that's the reality of movie business in Hollywood, no English speaking Japanese actors to take Japanese roles.

John Cho is not really Korean, he is actually Korean American. Asian Americans, especially the younger generation, don't separate themselves based on ethnicity. I believe that John Cho's wife is actually Japanese American. The guy who played Mr Chow from the Hangover series is also Korean American. And I believe that he's wife is Vietnamese American.

Psy speaks fluent English because he's from a very rich family who can afford the best educational opportunities for him. The same does not hold true for the rest of the SKorean populace. Not a good example to support your argument.

Funny how there's so much pressure in Asian countries, but not so much in the U.S... heck, most students here in the States can barely meet basic competency standards, aside from the cream of the crop. Perhaps in an ideal world, education can be balanced with both rigor and creativity.

Well look at Finland if you want an alternative.

A graduation rate of nearly 100% indicates Korean universities are a joke. I taught in a 2nd tier private university in Korea for a couple years, and the Korean professors sent their kids to the US for their university education.

Aren't there Confucius Institutes in Korea? Can't you learn English there?

Just curious, how did you get your English skill you have now?
Were you already capable of it when you were in your homeland?

Yes.

Amazing.
That is not usually happning in ordinary people in my country.

I am not an ordinary person!

TOEIC is not global. Don't count much on it for career development. Besides, personally I don't like ETS test operator's exploitation. Tests rid you of lots of money. This is how they conquer the world by English :)

I have not taken a TOEIC, am not confident in getting 900 points or so while having completed postgraduate progrmmes in English, able to handle a number of courses and professional talks in English without big problems. But perhaps Korean employers might still deny me due to insufficient TOEIC scores, lack of certificate :)

To improve and demonstrate your English proficiency, my advice is to seek a college degree (or the higher level it is, the better) from any English-speaking programme...ups, then you would have to take any English test for admissions :)

Ahojanen

A score of 900 is required to apply for positions at most major corporations, plus there is a separate English interview with native-speaking interviewers for those who make it past the initial screening by documents.

By comparison, people scoring 900 is unheard of in Japan. The case in example is SoftBank, where only 800 out of 17,000 employees score higher than 800(much less 900), and the joke is that most of those are Koreans, as SoftBank founder Son is an ethnic Korean who heavily recruit Jr. executive candidates from Korean universities, finding that Japanese candididates do not meet his standards.

The fact that the most qualified new employee at Sony may not be qualified to apply for a job at Samsung is shocking, but that's the reality today and this explains why Samsung blew Sony away over the past 10 years.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/...

Study English, Get $11,000! Softbank to Offer Employees Cash Bonuses Based on English Ability

Softbank Corp., the Japan-based telecommunications and Internet company headed bywitty CEO Masayoshi Son, has announced that it will award cash bonuses of up to 1 million yen (US $11,212) to employees who score over 900 points (out of a possible 990) on the TOEIC, an English language proficiency test.

Over the next three years, Softbank hopes to have 17,000 employees sit the TOEIC exam. Currently, only about 800 employees score over 800 points on the exam and the company hopes to increase that number to 3,000 employees.

800 employees over 800 score? So I am not so bad compared with them?
Maybe I should have made a right answer to 2 or 3 more questions in listening part.
After the previous exam, I realized that I needed 860 to get a special certification paper--it looks like gorgeous than usual ones.
Actually, I had an elementary test before 2 times of regular test, TOEIC bridge test, do you know that?
I got 168 score on bridge test, while 180 is its full score, so I was encouraged to go for the next, but just----it was very different when it is a regular one.
Most different condition is speed of speaking.
And time given for reading section is really short.
I think I want a "Certificate of Achievement" which only given to over 860 people. Seems to be not easy.
Anyway, I still have no will to pay my money for English at all! Why would I!
Paying for English learning is such a BS!