Does "simply" modify "the realization"?

[Tarheel]

You could say Chinese mainlanders are required to learn English too. I am from Beijing and I wasn't really given a choice not to learn English since jurnior high.

Well, if I was going to have the kids learn a language I wouldn't wait until junior high. When it comes to languages, the younger the better. (As for me, I am trying to learn Spanish, and is there any hope? ;-))

 

[MikeNewYork]

I think you missed a word after "wouldn't".

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think the word is 'wait'.
Not a teacher.

Is it true that manny people in Hong Kong learn English as a first language or that they learn English and Chinese at the same time (while they are growing up)?

Many people in Hong Kong are Chinese, so they learn English as a second language in school, alongside Chinese as the first language.

And is it true that in Singapore residents are actually required to learn English (in public school)? (If you don't know the answer to this one I am sure somebody here does.)

The OP in this thread is a Chinese Singaporean, who would know the answer.

 

[tedmc]

In Singapore where the population is mostly Chinese (75%), English is the official language and the medium of instruction in schools. The native or vernacular languages are studied as optional second languages.

In Malaysia, Singapore's next-door-neighhour where the majority of the population is Malays (70%), Malay is the main language. English is studied as a second language, followed by the optional native languages of the minority population,the Chinese and Indians (30%)

 

[Tarheel]

Surely they don't offer all the Indian languages. (There are more than 80.)

BTW, should I follow my inclination and offer corrections to your posts?

 

[tedmc]

The early migrants from India were mostly from the southern state of Tamilnadu, so the Tamil language is more commonly used here.

Please feel free to make corrections. I tend to overlook typos I must admit.

 

[oldbei]

Well, if I was going to have the kids learn a language I wouldn't wait until junior high. When it comes to languages, the younger the better. (As for me, I am trying to learn Spanish, and is there any hope? ;-))

Well, you sounded like you had a choice, but we didn't. When I was in junior high, China was just opening up to the world. The country had a severe shortage of English teachers at that time because English had not been taught in school for decades. Not every high school had a foreign language teacher let alone all the primary schools. Therefore, virtually no one in China was receiving any foreign language education in a primary school in those days.

My university English teacher didn't learn English until she was in her fifties. She had actually been educated to teach Russian in universities. Her spoken English was terrible when I was her student. Yet, she taught me English grammar, which has been benefiting me until this day.

Today, most primary schools offer English lessons in China. Some of the kindergartens there even have English teachers whose native tongue is English.

 

[Tarheel]

I am glad to see that you have been making progress in China. I guess there is always hope. (Even for me? ;-))

:up: