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

gerber wrote:You sound surprised.

Isn't it the dodgey duo take three  

Puriel wrote:Do they and you base this view on what exactly?

Well done if you do yourself.

So what do you excel in?
Cockney, Manc, Brummie?

Shady wrote:Well actually as a pastime I do study UK regional accents,slang & their origins.

What languages do I excel in?.....Arabic & Urdu to begin with followed by other middle eastern languages & Russian.

Puriel wrote:I am impressed.

Eilzel wrote:Instead of focusing on the fact someone dared to disagree with you, why not debate the point- you posted the story- I'm assuming you wanted to discuss it?

gerber wrote:In the wrong section according to you, did bestest point that out to you.

Why are you singling me out once again..............  Most on here are disagreeing.  Bolstered by your support....

gerber wrote:[*]PM plans to double number of Chinese language assistants in UK by 2016
[*]Will increase funding to schools for providing Mandarin training
[*]The aim is to double number of Chinese learners in Britain to 400,000


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2518549/Pupils-ditch-French-German-study-Mandarin-instead-David-Cameron-wants-education-ties-China-dramatically-strengthened.html#ixzz2mahnBymu 
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Just very grateful he hasn't done a kiss the Husky again, otherwise this would read learn Inuit.

DC has lost it this time.

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.

Flap Gallagher wrote:[*]considering chinas growth in the world learning chinese is not a bad career choice.
It is probably far more use in the business world than french or german.

the 21st century may well be the century of the chinese. I wouldn't be surprised if they give the totalitarian state the boot in the next couple of decades and fully embrace capitalism. As china becomes more developed its people are going to want more freedoms we take for granted.

Tess wrote:

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.

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.

Shady wrote:

Puriel wrote:It is spoken the most of that I agree, hence my point on many Brits holding some antiquated and arrogant belief everyone should speak English in their company. It is very lazy to be honest and rude.

Wow Puriel,interesting thoughts you have regarding the English language.

Do you think that English language in the UK should be made the second language of all UK citizens?

Shady wrote:

Puriel wrote:
It is your choice to believe I am wrong.
I do believe that all should and I believe many do, not all of them.
So lets reverse this question, we know countless Brits work abroad, do you think many even speak a second language?

Yes,many of them do speak a foreign language.I speak several.

mattiducatti wrote:

Most countries learn English as their 2nd language, not just to communicate with us but as a common language to communicate with each other too!


We can't learn every other language in return.


Although most people here do have at least a basic knowledge of one or two other languages, and when we travel elsewhere we mostly try to learn and use some of the foreign lingo.


Plus we have enough imported foreign language speaking people here already!

gerber wrote:

Flap Gallagher wrote:[*]considering chinas growth in the world learning chinese is not a bad career choice.
It is probably far more use in the business world than french or german.

the 21st century may well be the century of the chinese. I wouldn't be surprised if they give the totalitarian state the boot in the next couple of decades and fully embrace capitalism. As china becomes more developed its people are going to want more freedoms we take for granted.

[*]


Dean

They -  all who want to succeed in life in China learn English, rote and rote and rote...........  They have better grammatical comments than we do......

Flap Gallagher wrote:you are right that many see english as a good second language to learn, but it cannot be guaranteed that that will always be the case.
the chinese are deeply embedded in just about every part of the world now.
It makes sense for our kids to get ahead of the game by learning chinese. I cannot see why people are so resistant to the idea. they  are supposed to learn a language at school, why not make it one that may well make a difference in their careers.

Costa wrote:I remember having to learn Russian at school, I could never get the hang of that language.

Sister Mary wrote:"But kids have to learn a language at school then learn one that can make them a bob or two. Not order a meal in provence."


This is wrong, 97% of adults never use a foreign language, so what a waste of time at school.  Why not teach our children to speak English correctly?

Flap Gallagher wrote:you are right that many see english as a good second language to learn, but it cannot be guaranteed that that will always be the case.
the chinese are deeply embedded in just about every part of the world now.
It makes sense for our kids to get ahead of the game by learning chinese. I cannot see why people are so resistant to the idea. they  are supposed to learn a language at school, why not make it one that may well make a difference in their careers.