'Pupils should ditch French and German and study Mandarin instead': David Cameron wants education ties with China 'dramatically strengthened'

ALLAKAKA wrote: I manage to converse quite well with  '' fried beef with Spring onions and ginger in Black bean sauce , with egg fried rice , please'' 

gerber wrote:One mustn't speak with food in your mouth

ALLAKAKA wrote:
 Stupid irriot.    

gerber wrote:Brilliant.  First laugh out loud today.  Superb.

 I've been practicing my Mandolin. 

BigAndy9 wrote:As somebody has pointed out, English is the language of business.

How about we promote Britain, teach British children English and show the world that they need Britain!

Stop dribbling over other countries, stop begging foreigners to come here while paying them to do so.

Sister Mary wrote:All those children in London should ditch French and study Cockney rhyming slang.  Exam papers to be marked by Chaz and Dave.

BigAndy9 wrote:As somebody has pointed out, English is the language of business.

How about we promote Britain, teach British children English and show the world that they need Britain!

Stop dribbling over other countries, stop begging foreigners to come here while paying them to do so.

Sister Mary wrote:In the last 40 years of learning French, Spanish and German....no magical transformation of the economy has ever taken place.

Sister Mary wrote:Yes and they shouldn't be, GB should still be a world lead with her own industries based here.

Sister Mary wrote:Yes and they shouldn't be, GB should still be a world lead with her own industries based here.

Puriel wrote:That is the thing though many Brits are completely ignorant of speaking another language, holding some antiquated belief everyone should speak English. Makes them come across as ever so ignorant to be honest when you see them abroad expecting others to speak English back to them, not all but many. Most countries will at the moment pander to this, but I see in the future that this may not be the case and people will need to learn other languages if this country is ever to expand its economy.

Eilzel wrote:Excellent post!

Exactly right; and China is going to be THE biggest economy in less than 10 years time; overtaking the USA. Chinese influence is going to grow right alongside its economy, in fact it already is and you only have to look at their investments here in the UK to see that- and it is happening all over the world.

You are right, for now they will be happy to 'do business' in English- but that will change when their influence overtakes that of America.

As to the OP, it makes far more sense to have children learn the language of the second biggest economic power, soon to biggest. Far more so than German or French which are spoken by tens of millions in two countries and a few islands and very few African nations.

Puriel wrote:Why that is kind of you Eilzel and pleased to make your acquaintance.

The future is not in selfish needs but being able to look ahead to what would be best for a nation and agree it makes far more sense to learn.

Puriel wrote:That is the thing though many Brits are completely ignorant of speaking another language, holding some antiquated belief everyone should speak English. Makes them come across as ever so ignorant to be honest when you see them abroad expecting others to speak English back to them, not all but many. Most countries will at the moment pander to this, but I see in the future that this may not be the case and people will need to learn other languages if this country is ever to expand its economy.

Tess wrote:Hardly an antiquated belief - it IS the most spoken language in the world - except for Mandarin, but that's ony because there are so many Chinese in China that speak it.  If you take the native Chinese and English out of the equation, English is definitely spoken more than any other language.

Tess wrote:Hardly an antiquated belief - it IS the most spoken language in the world - except for Mandarin, but that's ony because there are so many Chinese in China that speak it.  If you take the native Chinese and English out of the equation, English is definitely spoken more than any other language.