Students striving to be the best English speaker in China(pri.org)
pri.org
Students striving to be the best English speaker in China
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-05-25/meet-students-vying-be-next-english-speaking-star-china
5 comments
> He was the only person in that final stage who didn't grow up in America or have 100% international school upbringing.
This is why such competitions has always been BS. They've been around for 15+ years. At first I admired those kids (back then my "peers"), but later on realized that the education they received could only have been afforded by a very small "elite" class. English was far from a foreign language to the vast majority of the final-rounders and this applies to every single competition and every single age group. Totally fair huh.
This is why such competitions has always been BS. They've been around for 15+ years. At first I admired those kids (back then my "peers"), but later on realized that the education they received could only have been afforded by a very small "elite" class. English was far from a foreign language to the vast majority of the final-rounders and this applies to every single competition and every single age group. Totally fair huh.
I can only trace a small handful of distant ancestors that came from outside the US, and have only left the country for occasional vacations, but, having never memorized four pages of anything, I should probably take "native proficiency in English" off of my LinkedIn :(
The competition has been there for a long time. I personally know some people who have won the regional champion. They are as boring as other non-perfect English speakers. To some of them, this is just a way to get themselves into a good university. It's no use to speak English, or frankly speaking, any foreign language well if one does not know how to think and what to express. It's the content that matters. Yitang Zhang doesn't speak perfect English but when he speaks, people would listen. I think what Chinese students really need is logic and philosophy.
I agree with you, except I wouldn't call them boring. It is a skill, a very pragmatic one, to speak excellent English, although it is wasteful to over-spend so much time on it.
In this sense, it is the same, if not worse, than the competitions in math, physics, chemistry, etc. I refused to continue the intensive and monotonous trainings for these competitions after I had a taste of it in a summer camp when I was in high school. Don't get me wrong, I love math and science. I didn't like the info-dump and repetitious natures of the training. I want to take time to think and think deeper. Or I might simply be a slower thinker than the other kids. Anyway, I spent time in reading extensively, and played basketballs when my brain got tired.
Edit: BTW, I have utmost respect and admiration for Mr. Zhang Yitang.
In this sense, it is the same, if not worse, than the competitions in math, physics, chemistry, etc. I refused to continue the intensive and monotonous trainings for these competitions after I had a taste of it in a summer camp when I was in high school. Don't get me wrong, I love math and science. I didn't like the info-dump and repetitious natures of the training. I want to take time to think and think deeper. Or I might simply be a slower thinker than the other kids. Anyway, I spent time in reading extensively, and played basketballs when my brain got tired.
Edit: BTW, I have utmost respect and admiration for Mr. Zhang Yitang.
What makes them boring?
Boring is a very subjective word. Maybe coincidentally the people I met were boring to me. My point is, being good at oral English does not necessarily make one a thoughtful and interesting person. Several of the materials they performed were not that good in terms of content itself. And whenever the results are related to college entrance exam, I cannot help but questioning the purpose of some people who took the competition. That said, I agree there are also true and excellent speakers and thinkers among them. If this competition can serve as a catalyst for ordinary people in China to learn English, especially people from small cities, then it's great.
We should make more of an effort to understand the rise of China as it happens. Someday a few decades from now we'll look back and try to figure out how China surpassed everyone else. We only seem to understand events after they've happened.
Hmm, I have complicated feelings about this.
I love Chinese people. I've lived in China for about two years, and speak Mandarin like a 5-year-old or so. I'm in awe of their construction projects, their facility with electronics and software, their can-do attitude, their kindness, etc. They are clearly very strong and getting stronger.
But I don't think it will be a clear case of China surpassing everyone else, at least not in everything. In my opinion, one area of weakness is education. In the US, I more often see children being raised with relatively high degrees of freedom, in ways that instill lifelong curiosity, love of learning, and self-motivated study. Education in China is much more often characterized by extreme stress and credentialism.
In my life I hope to play a very small part in building bridges between China and the US, sharing ideas. I hope we will gradually stop seeing it as a competition, start seeing it as cooperative, and no one will be concerned about who is surpassing whom, at least not on an ethnic level.
I love Chinese people. I've lived in China for about two years, and speak Mandarin like a 5-year-old or so. I'm in awe of their construction projects, their facility with electronics and software, their can-do attitude, their kindness, etc. They are clearly very strong and getting stronger.
But I don't think it will be a clear case of China surpassing everyone else, at least not in everything. In my opinion, one area of weakness is education. In the US, I more often see children being raised with relatively high degrees of freedom, in ways that instill lifelong curiosity, love of learning, and self-motivated study. Education in China is much more often characterized by extreme stress and credentialism.
In my life I hope to play a very small part in building bridges between China and the US, sharing ideas. I hope we will gradually stop seeing it as a competition, start seeing it as cooperative, and no one will be concerned about who is surpassing whom, at least not on an ethnic level.
Go there. See for yourself. It is a trip and a half. Almost like visiting another planet. It's reasonably safe. Not as clean as Japan, but surprisingly orderly while being much more relaxed than Japan. Last time I was there frequently, they opened a new coal fired power plant about as often as they opened a new Starbucks. Now their CO2 emissions are declining faster than expected. Are they bringing nuclear plants online quickly? Renewables? If anyone can, China can. It's the most happening place on the planet, and already driving planetary-scale trends.
I also think that oftentimes I filter the positive stories coming out of China with an 'oh, but they still have that or other thing still going on there, so this feat is less impressive', but that's just creating grounds for a huge underestimation in the long run.
It goes the other way also. I guess it depends on what side of the propaganda stream you are on.
Or else we'll look back and wonder how so many people failed to recognize its upcoming upheaval.
Is there a "Best Mandarin Speaker" competition in the Western world ?
If not, why not ?
If not, why not ?
Because Da Shan would win it every year :/
I haven't heard from him in a while...is he even in the Spring festival gala anymore?
I saw him on some billboards in Wuhan recently :) I honesty don't know, there seem to be more foreigners now on TV with good Chinese though, ones doing word games and straight up presenting with great Mandarin.
I am not from the western world, but there is huge application to learning English, it is the lingua franca of the world.
I am thinking that these competitions are formed out of people's desire to teach their children to speak English well, by talking up kids who are good at speaking English.
I am thinking that these competitions are formed out of people's desire to teach their children to speak English well, by talking up kids who are good at speaking English.
They don't need a best English speaker. They need a lot of adequate English speakers. The best English speaker who is Chinese grew up in Hong Kong.
Doubtful. I know several Chinese who grew up in the US.
That's a bet I would take.
I don't appreciate being generalized. How do you know how well we can speak English?
Incidentally, years ago the national CCTV English competitions were broadcast live, but after my friend Justin completely forgot his speech and fluffed everything they changed it to a pre-recorded (or time delayed perhaps?) broadcast instead. He was the only person in that final stage who didn't grow up in America or have 100% international school upbringing.