South China Morning Post (August 3)
“Plummeting scores in English-language tests among Japanese lower secondary school students have triggered concern that future generations will be unable to communicate in the world’s lingua franca. In nationwide tests conducted in April, just 12.4 per cent of 15-year-olds were able to reply correctly to five spoken questions in English.”
Tags: Communicate, Concern, English, Future generations, Japan, Language, Plummeting, School, Scores, Students, Tests
Wall Street Journal (April 20)
“When it comes to China, the U.S. and EU are largely now on the same page. “Europeans use milder language than Americans, saying they wish to ‘de-risk’ their economic relationship with China, not ‘decouple.’ But in substance, European de-risking and American decoupling look much the same. Indeed, Europe is erecting economic defenses against China that in some cases go further than the U.S.”
Tags: China, De-risk, Decouple, Economic defenses, Economic relationship, EU, Language, Milder, Same page, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (January 2)
“By 2115, it’s possible that only about 600 languages will be left on the planet as opposed to today’s 6,000. Japanese will be fine, but languages spoken by smaller groups will have a hard time of it.” English is more likely than Mandarin Chinese to become the world’s common language because it has already gained broad adoption and due to the difficulty of mastering Mandarin’s tones. “Just as the Mongols and Manchus once ruled China while leaving Chinese intact, if the Chinese rule the world, they will likely do so in English.”
Bloomberg (January 7, 2014)
A war of words has been playing out in London’s Daily Telegraph where the ambassadors from China and Japan have been “using wildly undiplomatic language to characterize” each other’s countries. In op-ed pieces, they both, in turn, accused the other’s country of being “Lord Voldemort.” While the Harry Potter jibes seem comical, “the exchange is a troubling sign, and one that raises questions about whether commercial ties will be enough to prevent Asia’s two big powers from sliding toward outright conflict.”
Tags: Ambassadors, Asia, China, Commercial ties, Conflict, Daily Telegraph, Harry Potter, Japan, Language, London, Lord Voldemort, Undiplomatic, War
The Telegraph (August 30)
In a finding unlikely to shock many, an international study reveals “the UK is the worst nation in Europe for the teaching of foreign languages.” The best nations are Luxembourg, Finland and Iceland where the average schoolchild learns more than 2 foreign languages. In contrast, children in the UK learn just 1, down from 1.3 in 2002.
