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Sunday, May 8, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
China Struggles With English
China Struggles With English
APRIL 14, 2011
blogs.wsj.com
Mandarin lessons may be the trend in the West, but the push in China is to study English.
Now, two language-teaching companies have given China poor marks for its English abilities. China, according to two separate studies published recently, is distinguishing itself for the number of people studying, not for their skill levels.
“China still has a way to go before it can consider itself adequately proficient in English,” according to English First BV.
Separately, California-based GlobalEnglish Corp. says many of the 11,000 people it recently surveyed in China wouldn’t be able to keep up with a business meeting conducted in English.
The findings show that money’s at stake, of course.
The English grades–and recommendations to teach more English–reflect how companies peddling everything in China from dandruff shampoo to mine-safety equipment and bond ratings are solving problems faster than they are recognized.
(Admittedly, newspaper reporters are sometimes also accused of viewing China’s tea cup as half empty.)
Educating Chinese is a business that has attracted a range of entrants, including Walt Disney Co., New York University and others.
Diplomats like U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have taken up the issue of improving English skills in China, as well. It appears to be one issue of agreement between Beijing and Washington.
The EF grading, based on 2.3 million test results, puts China at No. 29 among 44 nations that speak English as a second language, with a “low proficiency” rating.
Yet, EF credits China for pumping up the numbers and “To the extent that China is increasingly driving much of the regional economy, its ability to communicate in English will pressure all of its neighbors to keep pace.”
Indeed, the index is the latest to grade China above the former British colony of India. Likewise, the British Council, in various reports, has shown how China is overtaking India as an English-speaking nation–at least in numerical terms–while predicting the language’s future will be dictated by trends in the two most populous Asian nations.
Premier Wen Jiabao once estimated 300 million study English in China. But according to GlobalEnglish, “most English education focuses on general conversational English skills rather than the necessary communication tools for global business.”
– James T. Areddy
APRIL 14, 2011
blogs.wsj.com
Mandarin lessons may be the trend in the West, but the push in China is to study English.
Now, two language-teaching companies have given China poor marks for its English abilities. China, according to two separate studies published recently, is distinguishing itself for the number of people studying, not for their skill levels.
“China still has a way to go before it can consider itself adequately proficient in English,” according to English First BV.
Separately, California-based GlobalEnglish Corp. says many of the 11,000 people it recently surveyed in China wouldn’t be able to keep up with a business meeting conducted in English.
The findings show that money’s at stake, of course.
The English grades–and recommendations to teach more English–reflect how companies peddling everything in China from dandruff shampoo to mine-safety equipment and bond ratings are solving problems faster than they are recognized.
(Admittedly, newspaper reporters are sometimes also accused of viewing China’s tea cup as half empty.)
Educating Chinese is a business that has attracted a range of entrants, including Walt Disney Co., New York University and others.
Diplomats like U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have taken up the issue of improving English skills in China, as well. It appears to be one issue of agreement between Beijing and Washington.
The EF grading, based on 2.3 million test results, puts China at No. 29 among 44 nations that speak English as a second language, with a “low proficiency” rating.
Yet, EF credits China for pumping up the numbers and “To the extent that China is increasingly driving much of the regional economy, its ability to communicate in English will pressure all of its neighbors to keep pace.”
Indeed, the index is the latest to grade China above the former British colony of India. Likewise, the British Council, in various reports, has shown how China is overtaking India as an English-speaking nation–at least in numerical terms–while predicting the language’s future will be dictated by trends in the two most populous Asian nations.
Premier Wen Jiabao once estimated 300 million study English in China. But according to GlobalEnglish, “most English education focuses on general conversational English skills rather than the necessary communication tools for global business.”
– James T. Areddy
Friday, February 18, 2011
2 languages make your brain buff
Elizabeth Landau - CNN.com
"If you had any doubts about exposing your child - or yourself - to a foreign language, there's more evidence than ever that being bilingual has enormous benefits for your brain.
Scientists presented their research supporting this idea Friday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
As the human body begins its natural decline in old age, bilinguals seem to maintain better cognitive function, said Ellen Bialystok of York University in Toronto, Ontario. This is the case even for people with dementia. Bialystok and colleagues have studied many Alzheimer's patients, both monolinguals and bilinguals. They found that bilinguals were on average four to five years older than monolinguals at comparable points of neurological impairment.
Once Alzheimer's disease begins to compromise the brain, it appears that bilinguals can continue to function even though there’s damaged tissue, she said.
So what's going on? One theory is that language learning is an example of "cognitive reserve." It something that keeps the mind active in the same way as puzzles and games do, and works toward compensating for the build-up of dementia-causing pathology in the brain, Bialystok said.
In terms of starting language learning in middle or old age, the likelihood of becoming truly fluent in a new tongue is low, but it seems that every little bit helps in preventing cognitive decline, she said. And proficiency may be more important than age of acquisition, said Judith Kroll, researcher at Pennsylvania State University, before the conference.
Bilinguals are also better than monolinguals at multitasking, Kroll said. Juggling their languages helps bilinguals ignore irrelevant information and prioritize tasks better than those who only can only speak on tongue, she has found in her research. That makes sense considering that when a bilingual person speaks one language, the other language is still potentially active. That means that speakers of two languages are constantly inhibiting one language in favor of another, which perhaps enhances their overall attentional skills.
Why is it so hard for adults to learn a new language, compared with kids? The answer might not lie entirely in the brain. The social, educational, and other circumstantial conditions are different when an adult gets exposure to language, Bialystok said. As a child, learning a language is pretty much all you do. Adults can't devote as much time or attention to the experience of picking up a new tongue.
"It’s a change we can deal with as adults if there’s sufficient time and opportunity," she said.
Are there any downsides to being bilingual? Babies exposed to two languages throughout pregnancy, or who hear two languages in their first days of life, don’t confuse their languages, said Janet Weker of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The scientific evidence suggests bilingual and monolingual kids have similar language development milestones; it appears that children learning two languages do not experience delays in this regard generally.
There is, however, some research suggesting that the competition that’s produced by this mental juggling may introduce a delay in processing. But it’s so small that it’s not something that would be noticeable consciously, Kroll said. It appears that the benefits of being bilingual outweigh the costs."
link
"If you had any doubts about exposing your child - or yourself - to a foreign language, there's more evidence than ever that being bilingual has enormous benefits for your brain.
Scientists presented their research supporting this idea Friday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
As the human body begins its natural decline in old age, bilinguals seem to maintain better cognitive function, said Ellen Bialystok of York University in Toronto, Ontario. This is the case even for people with dementia. Bialystok and colleagues have studied many Alzheimer's patients, both monolinguals and bilinguals. They found that bilinguals were on average four to five years older than monolinguals at comparable points of neurological impairment.
Once Alzheimer's disease begins to compromise the brain, it appears that bilinguals can continue to function even though there’s damaged tissue, she said.
So what's going on? One theory is that language learning is an example of "cognitive reserve." It something that keeps the mind active in the same way as puzzles and games do, and works toward compensating for the build-up of dementia-causing pathology in the brain, Bialystok said.
In terms of starting language learning in middle or old age, the likelihood of becoming truly fluent in a new tongue is low, but it seems that every little bit helps in preventing cognitive decline, she said. And proficiency may be more important than age of acquisition, said Judith Kroll, researcher at Pennsylvania State University, before the conference.
Bilinguals are also better than monolinguals at multitasking, Kroll said. Juggling their languages helps bilinguals ignore irrelevant information and prioritize tasks better than those who only can only speak on tongue, she has found in her research. That makes sense considering that when a bilingual person speaks one language, the other language is still potentially active. That means that speakers of two languages are constantly inhibiting one language in favor of another, which perhaps enhances their overall attentional skills.
Why is it so hard for adults to learn a new language, compared with kids? The answer might not lie entirely in the brain. The social, educational, and other circumstantial conditions are different when an adult gets exposure to language, Bialystok said. As a child, learning a language is pretty much all you do. Adults can't devote as much time or attention to the experience of picking up a new tongue.
"It’s a change we can deal with as adults if there’s sufficient time and opportunity," she said.
Are there any downsides to being bilingual? Babies exposed to two languages throughout pregnancy, or who hear two languages in their first days of life, don’t confuse their languages, said Janet Weker of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The scientific evidence suggests bilingual and monolingual kids have similar language development milestones; it appears that children learning two languages do not experience delays in this regard generally.
There is, however, some research suggesting that the competition that’s produced by this mental juggling may introduce a delay in processing. But it’s so small that it’s not something that would be noticeable consciously, Kroll said. It appears that the benefits of being bilingual outweigh the costs."
link
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
An 'English goddess' for India's down-trodden
4 February 2011
An 'English goddess' for India's down-trodden
By Geeta Pandey
BBC News, Banka village, Uttar Pradesh
A new goddess has recently been born in India. She's the Dalit Goddess of English.
The Dalit (formerly untouchable) community is building a temple in Banka village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to worship the Goddess of the English language, which they believe will help them climb up the social and economic ladder.
About two feet tall, the bronze statue of the goddess is modelled after the Statue of Liberty.
"She is the symbol of Dalit renaissance," says Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit writer who came up with the idea of the Goddess of English.
"She holds a pen in her right hand which shows she is literate. She is dressed well and sports a huge hat - it's a symbol of defiance that she is rejecting the old traditional dress code.
"In her left hand, she holds a book which is the constitution of India which gave Dalits equal rights. She stands on top of a computer which means we will use English to rise up the ladder and become free for ever."
Considered to be at the bottom of the traditional Hindu caste system, the Dalits have been oppressed and discriminated against for centuries.
'Unclean'
Although the caste system was abolished when India gained independence in 1947, prejudices still remain, keeping the Dalits marginalised.
Sanjay Kumar: "To live in a city, you cannot survive without English."
The 200-million-strong community was traditionally engaged in menial jobs which the other higher castes consider "unclean". And the trend continues even today.
The discrimination extended to education too with the school system dominated by the higher castes. Even today in many rural schools, campaigners say Dalit children are not welcome - they are often made to sit and eat separately.
And this is reflected in the literacy rate for the community which at below 55% is almost 10% lower than Indian literacy rates.
Mr Prasad says that in the cities, people know the importance of English. In smaller towns, there is some knowledge of its importance. But in villages, there is no awareness that you need English to get ahead.
"In 20 years," he says, "no jobs would go to anyone in India who doesn't know English. If we don't do something now, the Dalits would not be job worthy."
With the temple to Goddess English, he hopes to attract the villagers to language and learning.
The plan, however, has run into trouble with the authorities.
"The administration said we needed permission to build the temple. We've applied for it now, we hope to get it soon," Mr Prasad says.
The foundation stone was laid in April last year and when I recently visited the Nalanda Public Shiksha Niketan School in Banka, I could see the temple walls had already been built.
Dalits make up nearly 47% of the population of Banka which is estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,000. And the English goddess has generated a lot of excitement - women here can be heard singing Jai Angrezi Devi Maiyaa Ki [Long Live the mother goddess of English].
"The stoppage of work on the temple has affected morale," says Nalanda school principal Shiv Shankar Lal Nigam.
He says the importance of English cannot be overstated in today's India.
"It's not possible to get by in today's world without English. Even to communicate with people in other Indian states, you need to know either the local language or English. Since you cannot learn multiple Indian languages, English has to be used as the link language."
English, he believes, will increase the Dalit youths' chances of getting into institutes of higher education and improve their employment prospects.
Roar of ambition
For Satinder Kumar, a Dalit student in the 11th grade, English is the magic key. He believes it will open the door to a better future.
The community believes English is the key to future success
"I want to study English and then I want to be an English teacher," he tells me. "The language will help me communicate better with other people."
For the Dalits of Banka village, English is the only means their children have for escaping grinding poverty.
Farmer Sanjay Kumar knows no English, but he dreams that his one-year-old daughter Naina will learn the language and have a better life.
"It's very important to know English," he tells me. "If you want to be a doctor or an engineer or a teacher, you must know English. If you want to live in a city, you cannot survive without English."
"They say Hindi is our national language, but all official work is done in English. If you don't know English, you are a failure," says farm-worker Om Prakash.
Labourer Sarvesh Kumar says Dalits were never respected and "whatever little we have gained is because of the efforts of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar" [Dalit thinker and the architect of the Indian constitution].
"Ambedkar said English was the milk of a lioness, he said only those who drink it will roar," Chandra Bhan Prasad says.
He says with the blessings of Goddess English, Dalit children will not grow to serve landlords or skin dead animals or clean drains or raise pigs and buffaloes.
They will grow into adjudicators and become employers and benefactors.
Then the roar of the Dalits, he says, will be heard by one and all.
link
An 'English goddess' for India's down-trodden
By Geeta Pandey
BBC News, Banka village, Uttar Pradesh
A new goddess has recently been born in India. She's the Dalit Goddess of English.
The Dalit (formerly untouchable) community is building a temple in Banka village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to worship the Goddess of the English language, which they believe will help them climb up the social and economic ladder.
About two feet tall, the bronze statue of the goddess is modelled after the Statue of Liberty.
"She is the symbol of Dalit renaissance," says Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit writer who came up with the idea of the Goddess of English.
"She holds a pen in her right hand which shows she is literate. She is dressed well and sports a huge hat - it's a symbol of defiance that she is rejecting the old traditional dress code.
"In her left hand, she holds a book which is the constitution of India which gave Dalits equal rights. She stands on top of a computer which means we will use English to rise up the ladder and become free for ever."
Considered to be at the bottom of the traditional Hindu caste system, the Dalits have been oppressed and discriminated against for centuries.
'Unclean'
Although the caste system was abolished when India gained independence in 1947, prejudices still remain, keeping the Dalits marginalised.
Sanjay Kumar: "To live in a city, you cannot survive without English."
The 200-million-strong community was traditionally engaged in menial jobs which the other higher castes consider "unclean". And the trend continues even today.
The discrimination extended to education too with the school system dominated by the higher castes. Even today in many rural schools, campaigners say Dalit children are not welcome - they are often made to sit and eat separately.
And this is reflected in the literacy rate for the community which at below 55% is almost 10% lower than Indian literacy rates.
Mr Prasad says that in the cities, people know the importance of English. In smaller towns, there is some knowledge of its importance. But in villages, there is no awareness that you need English to get ahead.
"In 20 years," he says, "no jobs would go to anyone in India who doesn't know English. If we don't do something now, the Dalits would not be job worthy."
With the temple to Goddess English, he hopes to attract the villagers to language and learning.
The plan, however, has run into trouble with the authorities.
"The administration said we needed permission to build the temple. We've applied for it now, we hope to get it soon," Mr Prasad says.
The foundation stone was laid in April last year and when I recently visited the Nalanda Public Shiksha Niketan School in Banka, I could see the temple walls had already been built.
Dalits make up nearly 47% of the population of Banka which is estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,000. And the English goddess has generated a lot of excitement - women here can be heard singing Jai Angrezi Devi Maiyaa Ki [Long Live the mother goddess of English].
"The stoppage of work on the temple has affected morale," says Nalanda school principal Shiv Shankar Lal Nigam.
He says the importance of English cannot be overstated in today's India.
"It's not possible to get by in today's world without English. Even to communicate with people in other Indian states, you need to know either the local language or English. Since you cannot learn multiple Indian languages, English has to be used as the link language."
English, he believes, will increase the Dalit youths' chances of getting into institutes of higher education and improve their employment prospects.
Roar of ambition
For Satinder Kumar, a Dalit student in the 11th grade, English is the magic key. He believes it will open the door to a better future.
The community believes English is the key to future success
"I want to study English and then I want to be an English teacher," he tells me. "The language will help me communicate better with other people."
For the Dalits of Banka village, English is the only means their children have for escaping grinding poverty.
Farmer Sanjay Kumar knows no English, but he dreams that his one-year-old daughter Naina will learn the language and have a better life.
"It's very important to know English," he tells me. "If you want to be a doctor or an engineer or a teacher, you must know English. If you want to live in a city, you cannot survive without English."
"They say Hindi is our national language, but all official work is done in English. If you don't know English, you are a failure," says farm-worker Om Prakash.
Labourer Sarvesh Kumar says Dalits were never respected and "whatever little we have gained is because of the efforts of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar" [Dalit thinker and the architect of the Indian constitution].
"Ambedkar said English was the milk of a lioness, he said only those who drink it will roar," Chandra Bhan Prasad says.
He says with the blessings of Goddess English, Dalit children will not grow to serve landlords or skin dead animals or clean drains or raise pigs and buffaloes.
They will grow into adjudicators and become employers and benefactors.
Then the roar of the Dalits, he says, will be heard by one and all.
link
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Lawrence Solomon: The failure of Chinese mothering
You may also want to check out
Barbara Kay: Implications of the ‘Chinese mother’ school of oppression
Both articles refer to another article Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
In retrospect, this is the most interesting article but it's all good educational...stuff. Pardon my lack of vocabulary.
Lawrence Solomon: The failure of Chinese mothering
January 14, 2011
Western parents retain the edge in producing creators
‘Why Chinese mothers Are superior,” the disconcerting-to-many essay by Yale University’s Amy Chua in The Wall Street Journal last Saturday, feeds fears of China’s rise and the West’s decline. Political correctness in the West, combined with dread that demanding too much of our children will lower their self-esteem, is creating a society of losers, Chua argues. In contrast, the “Chinese Mother” tactics that she employs on her own daughters — a no-holds-barred insistence on excellence exacted through endless hours of practice and enforced by brutally shaming children whenever necessary — creates “stereotypically successful kids [who become] math whizes and music prodigies.”
The statistics seem to bear her out — Asians disproportionately make it to elite schools in the West — they represent 5% of the U.S. population but 20% of the student body at Ivy League schools, for example. No one can but marvel at the uniformly successful students turned out by the “tenacious practice, practice, practice” and “rote repetition” that she considers “crucial for excellence.”
But such statistics don’t tell the whole story. In truth, Chinese Mothers fare poorly in achieving excellence compared with western mothers, even western mothers burdened by political correctness.
China’s excellence was once unrivalled — no people on Earth have displayed more genius than the Chinese, who gave humanity a profuse array of inventions and scholarly accomplishments, starting well before the time of the ancient Greeks and continuing past 1000 AD. The Chinese also developed, in the centuries before 1000 AD, a remarkable education system that was based not on lineage but on merit — the humblest family in the most remote village could see its son join the Emperor’s top advisors if he could prove himself in the Imperial Examination, a gruelling nationwide competition. This system of education, which survives today in modified form, helped create the Chinese Mother culture that Chua now espouses.
The brilliant scholar-bureaucrats that resulted from this centralized education system enabled numerous Chinese dynasties to quash their neighbours and administer their expanding lands. But the brilliant inventions that had been the hallmark of China petered out in the centuries after 1000 AD and then all but disappeared. In the absence of competition from neighbouring cultures, and under an education system that stressed a uniform standard, China became an uncurious country that viewed itself as the perfect Centre of the Universe and outsiders as barbarians from whom they had nothing to learn. Foreign travel became prohibited at penalty of decapitation. The Emperor even destroyed the fleet of the great Chinese admiral and explorer Zheng He, who navigated to Africa and may have preceded Columbus in reaching America.
In the last century, China has won only one Nobel Prize, tying it with nations such as Burma, Ghana, Mauritania and Nigeria. Even China’s one Nobel, a peace prize awarded last year, went to a dissident, imprisoned for his desire for democracy for China. Ethnic Chinese outside mainland China who are exposed to more independent thought do win Nobels — 10 in all over the last century — but even here the numbers do not stand out. Americans, in contrast, have claim to more than 300 Nobel prizes, by far the greatest number by country, and Jews lay claim to at least 180, by far the largest proportion by any ethnic group — the fraction of 1% of the world’s population that is Jewish has received almost one-quarter of the Nobels.
Patents are another measure of innovation. While China has been applying for patents at an increasing rate, it nevertheless logs relatively few in the foreign countries into which it sells its technology. Only two Chinese firms appear in the World Intellectual Property Indicators list of the top 50 companies applying for patents in 2009, and no Chinese academic institutions appear in the top 50. Perhaps the most telling example of China’s failure to innovate in important ways is in the military sector, where China is sparing no effort in its drive to become a world power. This week, China displayed its most advanced accomplishment, a stealth bomber that is a copy of the U.S. design. Despite the overarching importance of military might to the Chinese leadership, and high investments in R&D over decades, China has yet to produce a single piece of military hardware that represents a leapfrog in technology. In contrast, Russia, its former Communist counterpart, has had many military firsts, as has tiny Israel.
Practice and rote learning have their limits. While imposing single-minded discipline on children will dramatically raise test scores and technical proficiency, and for most children may represent the best strategy for accomplishment and satisfaction, it can come at the cost of curbing the creativity necessary for true excellence. Chinese Mothers make great moms, as evidenced by the unusual cohesiveness of the Chinese family: Chinese kids clearly understand whatever berating they absorb as the tough love intended. Chua is justified in saying western parents are doing their underperforming kids no favours in failing to confront them.
But Western parents retain the edge in producing the next generation of creators — those whose breakthroughs will cure cancer or supplant the Internet. Here, too, Chua may be pointing to the right balance in her personal life, by choosing as her husband and father of her children someone who is anything but single-minded. Jed Rubenfeld, an American Jew determined to avoid a career in academia, waffled as a student, starting with philosophy and psychology at Princeton, switching to acting at Julliard, then moving to law at Harvard before accepting an academic position at Yale, where he is now professor and assistant dean of law. Several years ago, Rubenfeld tried fiction for the first time, writing The Interpretation of Murder, a book that sold more than a million copies.
None of this was planned, as he told Entertainment News: “everything that has happened in my life has happened by accident, contrary to my best intentions.”
What must his mother have thought?
Read more: http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/01/14/lawrence-solomon-the-failure-of-chinese-mothering/#ixzz1B4gBXF9H
Barbara Kay: Implications of the ‘Chinese mother’ school of oppression
Both articles refer to another article Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
In retrospect, this is the most interesting article but it's all good educational...stuff. Pardon my lack of vocabulary.
Lawrence Solomon: The failure of Chinese mothering
January 14, 2011
Western parents retain the edge in producing creators
‘Why Chinese mothers Are superior,” the disconcerting-to-many essay by Yale University’s Amy Chua in The Wall Street Journal last Saturday, feeds fears of China’s rise and the West’s decline. Political correctness in the West, combined with dread that demanding too much of our children will lower their self-esteem, is creating a society of losers, Chua argues. In contrast, the “Chinese Mother” tactics that she employs on her own daughters — a no-holds-barred insistence on excellence exacted through endless hours of practice and enforced by brutally shaming children whenever necessary — creates “stereotypically successful kids [who become] math whizes and music prodigies.”
The statistics seem to bear her out — Asians disproportionately make it to elite schools in the West — they represent 5% of the U.S. population but 20% of the student body at Ivy League schools, for example. No one can but marvel at the uniformly successful students turned out by the “tenacious practice, practice, practice” and “rote repetition” that she considers “crucial for excellence.”
But such statistics don’t tell the whole story. In truth, Chinese Mothers fare poorly in achieving excellence compared with western mothers, even western mothers burdened by political correctness.
China’s excellence was once unrivalled — no people on Earth have displayed more genius than the Chinese, who gave humanity a profuse array of inventions and scholarly accomplishments, starting well before the time of the ancient Greeks and continuing past 1000 AD. The Chinese also developed, in the centuries before 1000 AD, a remarkable education system that was based not on lineage but on merit — the humblest family in the most remote village could see its son join the Emperor’s top advisors if he could prove himself in the Imperial Examination, a gruelling nationwide competition. This system of education, which survives today in modified form, helped create the Chinese Mother culture that Chua now espouses.
The brilliant scholar-bureaucrats that resulted from this centralized education system enabled numerous Chinese dynasties to quash their neighbours and administer their expanding lands. But the brilliant inventions that had been the hallmark of China petered out in the centuries after 1000 AD and then all but disappeared. In the absence of competition from neighbouring cultures, and under an education system that stressed a uniform standard, China became an uncurious country that viewed itself as the perfect Centre of the Universe and outsiders as barbarians from whom they had nothing to learn. Foreign travel became prohibited at penalty of decapitation. The Emperor even destroyed the fleet of the great Chinese admiral and explorer Zheng He, who navigated to Africa and may have preceded Columbus in reaching America.
In the last century, China has won only one Nobel Prize, tying it with nations such as Burma, Ghana, Mauritania and Nigeria. Even China’s one Nobel, a peace prize awarded last year, went to a dissident, imprisoned for his desire for democracy for China. Ethnic Chinese outside mainland China who are exposed to more independent thought do win Nobels — 10 in all over the last century — but even here the numbers do not stand out. Americans, in contrast, have claim to more than 300 Nobel prizes, by far the greatest number by country, and Jews lay claim to at least 180, by far the largest proportion by any ethnic group — the fraction of 1% of the world’s population that is Jewish has received almost one-quarter of the Nobels.
Patents are another measure of innovation. While China has been applying for patents at an increasing rate, it nevertheless logs relatively few in the foreign countries into which it sells its technology. Only two Chinese firms appear in the World Intellectual Property Indicators list of the top 50 companies applying for patents in 2009, and no Chinese academic institutions appear in the top 50. Perhaps the most telling example of China’s failure to innovate in important ways is in the military sector, where China is sparing no effort in its drive to become a world power. This week, China displayed its most advanced accomplishment, a stealth bomber that is a copy of the U.S. design. Despite the overarching importance of military might to the Chinese leadership, and high investments in R&D over decades, China has yet to produce a single piece of military hardware that represents a leapfrog in technology. In contrast, Russia, its former Communist counterpart, has had many military firsts, as has tiny Israel.
Practice and rote learning have their limits. While imposing single-minded discipline on children will dramatically raise test scores and technical proficiency, and for most children may represent the best strategy for accomplishment and satisfaction, it can come at the cost of curbing the creativity necessary for true excellence. Chinese Mothers make great moms, as evidenced by the unusual cohesiveness of the Chinese family: Chinese kids clearly understand whatever berating they absorb as the tough love intended. Chua is justified in saying western parents are doing their underperforming kids no favours in failing to confront them.
But Western parents retain the edge in producing the next generation of creators — those whose breakthroughs will cure cancer or supplant the Internet. Here, too, Chua may be pointing to the right balance in her personal life, by choosing as her husband and father of her children someone who is anything but single-minded. Jed Rubenfeld, an American Jew determined to avoid a career in academia, waffled as a student, starting with philosophy and psychology at Princeton, switching to acting at Julliard, then moving to law at Harvard before accepting an academic position at Yale, where he is now professor and assistant dean of law. Several years ago, Rubenfeld tried fiction for the first time, writing The Interpretation of Murder, a book that sold more than a million copies.
None of this was planned, as he told Entertainment News: “everything that has happened in my life has happened by accident, contrary to my best intentions.”
What must his mother have thought?
Read more: http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/01/14/lawrence-solomon-the-failure-of-chinese-mothering/#ixzz1B4gBXF9H
Foreigners learn Hindi to connect with India, cut business deals Read more: Foreigners learn Hindi to connect with India, cut business deals
Foreigners learn Hindi to connect with India, cut business deals
NEW DELHI: Hindi, one of the official languages of India may soon give popular languages of the world such as Mandarin and Spanish a run for their money.
The emergence of India as a hub for global companies seems to be attracting more and more foreigners into learning the language.
"Foreigners who wish to relocate to India or want to set up their business here feel the need to learn Hindi for more upfront results. Though English is still the business language in India, knowledge of Hindi helps to understand the cultural nuances," says Chandra Bhushan Pandey, who runs a coaching institute that teaches foreigners Hindi.
Pandey, who teaches Hindi to around 40 foreigners in a month points out, "The demand to speak Hindi has grown by 50 per cent in last eight years. The ability to speak and understand Hindi increases the opportunity of enjoying Indian culture and history."
Multinational companies have been opening their offices in India and they encourage their officials to learn Hindi for better business results and connection with their Indian clients.
"Foreign professionals who can bond with their Indian counterparts are very successful here. I teach them words like 'namaskar', 'shukriya' and 'dhanyawaad' to use in their presentations for good results," says Neeraj Mehra, a Hindi language expert based in Gurgaon.
Mehra also imparts cultural training to them which enables them to strike an instant chord with the Indian clients.
"A foreigner who greets you with 'namaste' with folded hands is more appealing than somebody who just greets you with a 'hello' and shakes hand with you," he says.
A number of foreign research scholars and people working with NGOs and UN agencies in India also learn Hindi as their field work requires them to interact with locals.
"I thought English would take me through but I realised during my fieldwork that its a must to know Hindi," says Juliet from Switerzland who works with an NGO in Delhi.
Cecelia, a French student studying in India says she is learning Hindi as she wants to show locals that she is interested in integrating in their country and culture.
The huge popularity of Hindi films abroad is also promoting the Hindi language.
Abuzar, a student from Tajikistan says, "Hindi films are very popular in our country. Thousands watch them everyday and that prompted me to learn this language."
Tourism industry is fast growing in India, with 5.58 million foreigners visiting the country in 2010 and many of them are trying to learn Hindi to make their local experience interesting.
The Indian government is also promoting Hindi and Indian culture abroad.
The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Hindi, one of the official languages of India may soon give popular languages of the world such as Mandarin and Spanish a run for their money.
The emergence of India as a hub for global companies seems to be attracting more and more foreigners into learning the language.
"Foreigners who wish to relocate to India or want to set up their business here feel the need to learn Hindi for more upfront results. Though English is still the business language in India, knowledge of Hindi helps to understand the cultural nuances," says Chandra Bhushan Pandey, who runs a coaching institute that teaches foreigners Hindi.
Pandey, who teaches Hindi to around 40 foreigners in a month points out, "The demand to speak Hindi has grown by 50 per cent in last eight years. The ability to speak and understand Hindi increases the opportunity of enjoying Indian culture and history."
Multinational companies have been opening their offices in India and they encourage their officials to learn Hindi for better business results and connection with their Indian clients.
"Foreign professionals who can bond with their Indian counterparts are very successful here. I teach them words like 'namaskar', 'shukriya' and 'dhanyawaad' to use in their presentations for good results," says Neeraj Mehra, a Hindi language expert based in Gurgaon.
Mehra also imparts cultural training to them which enables them to strike an instant chord with the Indian clients.
"A foreigner who greets you with 'namaste' with folded hands is more appealing than somebody who just greets you with a 'hello' and shakes hand with you," he says.
A number of foreign research scholars and people working with NGOs and UN agencies in India also learn Hindi as their field work requires them to interact with locals.
"I thought English would take me through but I realised during my fieldwork that its a must to know Hindi," says Juliet from Switerzland who works with an NGO in Delhi.
Cecelia, a French student studying in India says she is learning Hindi as she wants to show locals that she is interested in integrating in their country and culture.
The huge popularity of Hindi films abroad is also promoting the Hindi language.
Abuzar, a student from Tajikistan says, "Hindi films are very popular in our country. Thousands watch them everyday and that prompted me to learn this language."
Tourism industry is fast growing in India, with 5.58 million foreigners visiting the country in 2010 and many of them are trying to learn Hindi to make their local experience interesting.
The Indian government is also promoting Hindi and Indian culture abroad.
The Times of India
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