If anyone has the opportunity to view the CCTV-9 on satellite or
cable TV, one will be very surprised by the high standard of spoken
English on this Mainland Chinese TV station that is broadcasting
internationally.
The spoken English on the various programmes of news reporting,
documentary scripts, and forums are amazingly high, and similar to
the quality of spoken English on the BBC and CNN.
The quality of the spoken English Language by those interviewed and
participating on forums broadcast live will reveal the confidence
that the Mainland Chinese have in this foreign language.
We can safely assume that many of these Mainland Chinese would have
studied overseas, and have returned to their homeland, to benefit
from the economic boom in their own country rather then be a
'second class citizen' in
a foreign land.
Mainland China can easily reach a critical mass of English Language
speakers that can number the entire Singapore population of 4.5
million, and will immediately pose a challenge to Singapore's
unique position as a 'gateway to the Middle Kingdom' - as touted by
the Singapore Government.
With the Olympics 2008 being only two years away, the effort to
have more Chinese to be understood as host of this international
event, has resulted in a large segment of Mainland Chinese
diligently learning this Foreign Language. This is happening across
age and dialect groups, and through all the provinces.
Singapore's headstart with the learning of the English Language
will be of no consequence when the large population of China can
comfortably understand and conduct their relationships with
foreigners traders.
