Looking at social media with the extracted video clips, many people have commented that on social media, there is now a story that Chinese people do not have a need to use English and it seems that Chinese people do not speak English very well. What is the truth?

First, we will have some numbers to illustrate what we are curious about. There is an updated figure at the end of 2023 indicating that China has dropped 20 places in the international English proficiency ranking that year, losing its position to economic competitors across Asia. Specifically, the English proficiency ranking by a company called EF Education First placed China in 82nd place out of 113 ranked countries and territories, meaning it is in the lower half of the ranking.

How does it compare to Vietnam? Vietnam ranks 58th in that ranking, 24 places higher than China. Previously, China ranked 62nd in 2022, 49th in 2021, and 38th in 2020. What do these numbers reflect? They suggest that it seems Chinese people are learning English a bit worse. This is considered a consequence of the less friendly relationship with the West, especially with the United States. In fact, there have even been proposals in China to eliminate English as a subject, which is entirely true.

At an annual Chinese National Congress meeting in 2021, there was a proposal to eliminate English classes, and this is not the first time this subject has been suggested for removal. There have been similar requests in the past. However, this information still provokes mixed reactions on Chinese social media, with many people agreeing with the proposal to eliminate English because they believe that the majority of Chinese people do not use English in their daily lives, except in the learning process.

Specifically, English accounts for about 10% of the total classroom hours for students, yet this foreign language is only useful for less than 10% of students after graduation. Instead, they believe that smart devices, such as phones, can provide quick and competitive professional translation services, helping to solve many tasks rather than spending time learning English. If English is no longer a mandatory subject, students can spend more time improving their skills in areas such as music, sports, arts, or even resting.

However, an online survey shows that most still support the continuation of mandatory English learning in the education curriculum to keep up with global trends, as English is the global language. Thus, we have seen some reasons why Chinese people are not keen on English, which relates to the perspectives and lifestyles of some Chinese people. What about the majority?

For the majority of Chinese people, they believe that there is no need to learn English too well because they are confident in China's development. With the rapid growth of China's economy and technology, the second-largest economy in the world, Chinese people feel more confident in using Chinese for international transactions and daily work, as they believe their language will become increasingly popular and important in the future. As Chinese companies become powerful global corporations, the demand for English may decrease because Chinese people can still work abroad but for their own Chinese companies without needing to use English as much as before.

With the development of the Chinese economy, more and more countries and companies are even willing to learn Chinese to do business with Chinese people, reducing the pressure on Chinese people to learn English to communicate in a common language. In another country or even in education, many students only learn English to pass exams like the college entrance exam without realizing the importance and practical benefits of using English in daily life. Not to mention, if we go on social media, we sometimes still need to use English to communicate with foreigners, while China has its own social media where they do not use the social media platforms we use, and the default language is Chinese.

With the pressure from important exams like the college entrance exam, students often focus on subjects like math and science, where they can achieve higher scores and have more opportunities at prestigious universities. Another reason that is very difficult to quantify but is believed to explain why Chinese people feel it is unnecessary to learn English is that it is estimated that Mandarin Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with about 1.2 billion people using Mandarin as their primary language.

As a primary language, perhaps no language can rival it. Mandarin is also the official language not only in mainland China but also in Taiwan, with about 23 million speakers. Mandarin is also one of the four official languages in Singapore, used by about 1.2 million people. Millions of people around the world learn and use Mandarin as their second language; this number is very difficult to determine accurately but is estimated to reach several tens of millions. Besides China, Taiwan, and Singapore, Mandarin is also widely used in Chinese communities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries, as well as in many Chinese communities in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Toronto, where Mandarin is commonly spoken.

Chinese communities in the UK, France, Germany, and other European countries also use Mandarin in their daily lives. This affirms that wherever there are Mandarin speakers, there will be Chinese speakers, and Chinese people believe that this is their national language, so there is no need to learn English anymore. Therefore, Chinese has been widely taught as a second language in schools and language centers around the world.

The increasing popularity of this language, with more and more people learning it, further makes Chinese people feel that English is becoming a bit less important. These are very specific examples that show us why Chinese people are not keen on English. This is completely different from many other Asian countries where English is highly valued, especially in Vietnam, where the learning environment for students in cities is strong. Or in South Korea, which also invests heavily in learning English and encourages students to use English in their daily lives. This is reflected in the English proficiency index of South Korea, which is always higher than that of China, but that does not mean that Chinese people do not learn English; in fact, the market for learning English in China and the number of people learning English in China is also very large due to their large population.

It is estimated that about 300 million Chinese people are learning English, including students, university students, and working adults. 300 million people is roughly equivalent to the entire population of the United States learning English. In primary and secondary education, English is a mandatory subject starting from the third grade, around 9 years old, until the end of high school. In higher education, most universities require students to achieve a certain level of English proficiency to graduate. Additionally, many universities offer programs taught in English or specialized English courses. According to the Chinese Ministry of Education, there are currently about 400,000 English teachers in primary and secondary schools, which is also a significant number. However, the quality of teaching still varies, especially between urban and rural areas.

In the college entrance exam, English is one of the three main subjects along with math and literature. Speaking of exams and also related to English, China is one of the countries with the largest number of candidates taking IELTS and other international certificates in the world. For example, in 2019, nearly half a million Chinese candidates participated in such exams. The online English learning market in China is estimated to be worth about 5 billion US dollars.

In summary, the issue of learning English is not just about the mandatory education curriculum; it is also part of the open-door policy and support for globalization of this populous country, and English is a basic skill for Chinese people to convey messages, ideas, and technology from China to the world. Learning English is about broadening horizons, not always thinking that Chinese is widely used and that there is no need to learn English anymore.