Paul, at 12:03 on May 13 1995, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

PE> like everyone else, and EVERYONE in Japan, and EVERYONE in Europe,

BG> Dangerous stuff Paul, using such absolutes.  It's nothing like everyone, 
BG> actually, especially in Europe.  It's close to true of the Japs though.

PE> Well whenever I speak to someone from Europe, I ask them if they
PE> all learnt English at school, and they say they do. 

What part of Europe though?  I'd expect the EEC countries to be teaching
English, but not the (ex) Soviet Union, nor much of Scandinavia either.

PE> Actually, the Portuguese woman said they also all learnt French.

As do the Spanish, according to my Spaniard friend.

PE> and probably 50% of India and probably 20% of China.  However, 
PE> there is no way on earth you would say that she USED English in 
PE> China as a second language.  The statistic you want is how many 
PE> people KNOW English.

BG> That's rubbish.  I know Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Greek, 
BG> Italian, Spanish, Tagalog, Pidgin, and even some Gaelic, but 

PE> No you don't. 

Which is precisely what I went on to qualify in that part which you so
conveniently deleted!

PE> Not like the 20% of Chinese know English.  

I still don't believe it's anything like 20% of all native Chinese.

PE> My wife says that it is compulsory to learn English for SIX YEARS at 
PE> school.

Perhaps they did at Xiayi's school, but neither do I believe that this
applies to anywhere near the majority of schools in China.  Most Chinese
leaders and politicians are basically xenophobic, and the rest of the
population more or less do what they're told.  Or has that all changed
fairly recently?

Regards, Bill
@EOT:

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