David Cameron leads largest trade delegation to China in 200 years

[dipsydoodle]

Talks to boost trade between Britain and China were under way in Beijing this morning at the start of three days of intense negotiations by the largest British delegation to go to China in more than 200 years. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8116651/David-Cameron-leads-largest-trade-delegation-to-China-in-200-years.html

[Jeneral2885]

1. I hope he gives them lessons in

English at the same time

[dipsydoodle]

2. Most of them learn English at school

The Chinese government understand the importance to their country of their population speaking foreign langauges. In Cuba I came across two Chinese youngsters on a government paid 5 year course there to become perfectly fluent in Spanish. Their only difficulty is in pronouncing words exactly as we do. That's heriditary - we learn to speak largely by watching our Mother's lips move so the difficulties perpetuate through time.

[EmilyKent]

9. That is not 'heredity'. That's lip-reading.

And native English speakers pronounce the language in many different ways.

[oldironside]

3. As a professional language teacher...

... I find your comment ignorant and insulting - one step up from Prince Philip's "slitty eyes".

[Jeneral2885]

5. It was not

it's simple globalisation. They want to come here to study or live, they must learn how to integrate.

[non sociopath skin]

6. Er, am I missing something or isn't it likely that Chinese people who come to study here ...

... can already speak English? Or they wouldn't get much out of their course, surely?

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

4. Actually some of them might give him lessons in English!

I have friends and students from both Hong Kong and mainland China, with amazing English. Admittedly, these are the ones who came to England; but still they put the Brits to shame in terms of our inability to master foreign languages, and sometimes our own.

[non sociopath skin]

7. Can I volunteer my half-Chinese granddaughter to give him lessons in both?

The Skin

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Turns out language teaching was part of the deals signed

in both directions:

Education minister Michael Gove said cash would be diverted to train 1,000 new Chinese language teachers in England over the next five years. The programme would aim to train enough teachers to enable every secondary school student in England who wants to learn Mandarin to do so.

Mandarin is becoming more popular in schools, with GCSE entries increasing by 40% since 2002. It is also increasingly in demand by employers: according to a 2010 CBI survey, Mandarin or Cantonese speakers are as much in demand as French speakers.

Education links between the UK and China are already strong. China sends more than 85,000 students to the UK every year. The UK sends a similar proportion of its students to China – 3,000 last year – and more than 500 British schools now teach Mandarin.

http://www.u.tv/News/Rolls-Royce-announces-%C2%A3750m-China-deal/f3869d80-fb35-4258-a80c-edb33d06d6f5

Academic publisher Pearson announced Tuesday that it will build 50 English language schools in China, as British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in the country on a trade-boosting visit.

Pearson, which already educates around 50,000 students at 66 language centres across China, hopes that the new facilities will boost the number of pupils it teaches to 100,000.

"We've opened six new centres this year and now plan to step up the pace of expansion," said chief executive John Fallon, who is one of 50 business leaders accompanying Cameron on his two-day trip.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Edvantage/Story/A1Story20101109-246344.html