IN THE BEGINNING

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

1. You can learn a language for a lifetime and never be able to use it for its communicative purpose.
2. You can communicate in a language without ever learning it.
3. Foreign students who come to China to learn Mandarin are often fluent within 3 – 6 months.
4. Chinese who go abroad to an English speaking country for 6 months or more have greatly improved Chinglish upon their return.

THE REASONS

China graduates 5 million plus university students each year. They have studied English as a foreign language (EFL) for up to 16 years but are functionally illiterate, unable to communicate in English in a comprehensible manner.

China has tens of millions of people who can communicate effectively in Mandarin, Cantonese or one of the 55 minority language and they have never been to any school.

We acquire and are able to use our L1 before we ever attend school and learn it. We absorb our L1 from our surrounding environment.

When foreign students come to China they absorb Mandarin from the Chinese environment. When Chinese go abroad to an English speaking country they absorb English from the environment.

It is a National tragedy that Chinese students studying English in China for up to 16 years never have the required English speaking environment that would allow them to acquire English.  There is not sufficient money to send all Chinese students abroad so China hires 100,000 legal and 150,000 illegal foreign English teachers every year to provide a native speaker influence. There are English Corners and English Debates as well as other types of appointments to speak English. But for 30 years these English activities have proved ineffective.

On the download page there are some relevant articles:

China EFL: Why Chinese Universities do not Provide an English Speaking Environment

HOLISTIC ENGLISH: A Revolution – Not an Evolution

Revolution Continues at SYSU

YOU, CAN DO

A TRUE English Speaking Environment (ESE) is where English is the language of communication or where it is easier to speak in English than in the L1.

2^nd language acquisition occurs when there is comprehensible input in a friendly environment.  The emphasis is on input.

Chinese students studying English in a Chinese environment are at a great disadvantage. But they can level the playing field. There are things a Chinese student of English can do to create their own ESE.

1. Change your mobile phone language to English and always answer in English.
2. Change your computer operating system to an English system.
3. Change your computer home page to an English one.
4. Change your computer default search browser to an English one.
5. Download Google Toolbar and add on the translation function. Automatically translate all Chinese web pages to English.
6. Read Google English news every day.
7. Download a free radio and TV tool bar and listen to or watch English programs.
8. Buy English newspapers and magazines.
9. Make English the language of communication in your dormitory.
10. Eat your meals with friends who also want an ESE and only speak English.
11. Wear a patch that says “SPEAK ENGLISH” which allows group identification of others wanting an ESE.
12. Demand that your Chinese teachers of English teach in the target language, English, and not Mandarin.
13. Watch English movies with English subtitles or no subtitles.
14. Watch CCTV 9

YOUR CHOICE

Every time you could speak English but don’t, YOU CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH BETTER

Every time you read a Chinese web page, YOU CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH BETTER

Every time you buy a Chinese newspaper or magazine, YOU CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH BETTER

Every time you communicate with your room mates in Chinese, YOU CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH BETTER

Every time you choose to speak Mandarin to your classmates, YOU CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH BETTER

Every time you watch a Chinese movie, YOU CHOSE NOT TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH BETTER

Every time you watch Chinese TV, YOU CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH BETTER

These choices are not easy. But there are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

ENGLISH CAN’T BE ACQUIRED 2 HOURS A WEEK IN A CLASSROOM, IT MUST BE LIVED 24/7.

Introduction

It is beyond dispute that China has some of the most comprehensive and up-to-date Intellectual Property (IP) protection laws of any country in the modern world, in conformance with its accession to the Berne Convention and the Geneva Convention.¹ This is a direct result of China’s serious fourteen-year pursuit of World Trade Organization membership and compliance with its WTO obligations.²

On October 27, 2001, China promulgated the amendment to its PRC, Copyright Law of 1990 (the Copyright Law). The amendment came into effect upon its promulgation. The purpose of this amendment was to bring China’s copyright protection to full compliance with relevant international conventions. It seems more than coincidental that the amendment was promulgated one week before China signed its WTO accession documents; the amendment was issued in all likelihood to prove that China is making efforts to honour its WTO commitments.”³

China acknowledges that its own IT sector is retarded due to lack of transfer of foreign technology and lack of foreign investment, both caused by lack of foreigners’ belief in IP protection in China.⁴ China has ratcheted up IP enforcement with record numbers of prosecutions in all provinces and semi-autonomous regions, because China sees this as being in its own economic best interests. Yet, organizations like AmCham assert that while such enforcement actions are laudable, they fall far short and suggest that the situation is getting worse, not better.⁵ The Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce asserts, “Aggressive enforcement of intellectual property rights will benefit both consumers and businesses. Encouraging the enforcement of IPR rights will allow U.S. companies to reap the benefits of their investments, and will also encourage additional businesses, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, to participate in the global marketplace.”⁶

This myopic world-view taken from a “business only” perspective ignores the most fundamental principles of Globalization, cultural diversity appreciation and understanding. For five thousand years the Chinese have had no concept of private intellectual property rights. Under the Emperor Dynasties and more recently the Socialist Economic System, the government owns all real and personal property, including celebrity endorsements.⁷

1.3 billion people cannot be expected to embrace such a foreign concept over night. IP protection is brand new (last 20 years) and the basic change in recognizing private ownership of IP is hard to teach and hard to accept. Only 53 percent of the people even speak Mandarin⁸ and more than 8.72 percent are illiterate.⁹ That is one-hundred thirteen million illiterates in China. An entire society needs to be taught about the value of private ownership of intellectual property. This educational process must begin at China’s universities where libraries allow and even encourage wholesale copying of entire books.

Under the socialist economic system the government owned the books (copyrights were non-existent) and the people are the government. So, the people copy what they already own and thus are not stealing anything from anyone. This practice continues to this day. Chinese libraries still allow this practice to continue unabated without even a cursory check to see if the book has an ISBN number.The Chinese universities are the Research and Development labs for China and yet 75 percent of them fail to patent their own inventions.¹⁰ India is as adept at copying China’s non-patented pharmaceuticals as China is at copying America’s copyrighted DVDs.¹¹

Chinese people understand that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. Intangible thoughts and ideas have no reality as something that is subject to theft, even when they are reduced to a writing or artwork. On any given day, in any given Chinese bookstore, there are more people sitting on the bare floor stealing IP (reading books for free) than patrons in the local library. Even the bookstores encourage IP theft. There are no signs prohibiting free reading and no enforcement of such a “foreign” idea. The people know that they cannot take the book out of the store without paying for it, but they do not understand that their act of reading it without compensation also constitutes a theft. A major Shanghai university teaches IP protection using a Prentice Hall book, copied in violation of the copyright laws. This university has a teacher stand in front of the class and teach that it is wrong to steal IP while teaching from a stolen textbook. This is hypocritical and sends the wrong message to the students who are the next generation of business and government leaders. The universities must teach, not just preach, IP protection and they must implement what they teach. China’s universities are teaching the next generation of political and business leaders, as well as the next generation of teachers. Education is the fundamental key to change, not enhanced enforcement actions.

Increasing IP enforcement actions tenfold will not accomplish the desired transformation of Chinese thinking and attitude towards IP ownership and protection. This can only be accomplished through proper education, not hypocritical half-hearted educational efforts. It is no easy task to bring such fundamental change to the thinking of 1.3 billion Chinese people. It requires a psychological revolution of unprecedented proportions to create a new ethos where none has existed before. Enforcement actions undoubtedly have an effect on those successfully prosecuted but to assume a deterrent effect that will sweep throughout China’s society is to continue to believe that capital punishment deters murder or other serious crimes.