Jay Walker on the World's English Mania Video on TED

Jay Walker on the world's English mania | Video on TED.com

Let'stalkaboutmanias. Let'sstartwithBeatlemania. Hystericalteenagers, crying, screaming, pandemonium. Sportsmania. Deafeningcrowds. Allforoneidea. Gettheballinthenet. Okay, religiousmania. There'srapture. There'sweeping. There'svisions. Maniascanbegood. Maniascanbealarming. Ormaniascanbedeadly.
Theworldhasanewmania. AmaniaforlearningEnglish. ListenasChinesestudentspracticetheirEnglishbyscreamingit.
Teacher: ... changemylife!
Students: Iwillchangemylife.
T: Idon'twanttoletmyparentsdown.
S: Idon'twanttoletmyparentsdown.
T: Idon'teverwanttoletmycountrydown.
S: Idon'teverwanttoletmycountrydown.
T: Mostimportantly ... S: Mostimportantly ...
T: Idon'twanttoletmyselfdown.
S: Idon'twanttoletmyselfdown.
JayWalker: HowmanypeoplearetryingtolearnEnglishworldwide? Twobillionofthem.
Students: At-shirt. Adress.
JW: InLatinAmerica, inIndia, inSoutheastAsia, andmostofallinChina. IfyouareaChinesestudentyoustartlearningEnglishinthethirdgrade, bylaw. That'swhythisyearChinawillbecometheworld'slargestEnglishspeakingcountry. (Laughter) WhyEnglish? Inasingleword: Opportunity. Opportunityforabetterlife, ajob, tobeabletopayforschool, orputbetterfoodonthetable. Imagineastudenttakingagianttestforthreefulldays. Herscoreonthisonetestliterallydeterminesherfuture. Shestudies 12 hoursadayforthreeyearstoprepare. 25 percentofhergradeisbasedonEnglish. It'scalledtheGaokao. And 80 millionhighschoolChinesestudentshavealreadytakenthisgruelingtest. TheintensitytolearnEnglishisalmostunimaginable. Unlessyouwitnessit.
Teacher: Perfect! Students: Perfect!
T: Perfect! S: Perfect!
T: IwanttospeakperfectEnglish.
S: IwanttospeakperfectEnglish.
T: Iwanttospeak — S: Iwanttospeak —
T: perfectEnglish. S: perfectEnglish.
T: Iwanttochangemylife!
S: Iwanttochangemylife!
JW: SoisEnglishmaniagoodorbad? IsEnglishatsunami, washingawayotherlanguages? Notlikely. Englishistheworld'ssecondlanguage. Yournativelanguageisyourlife. ButwithEnglishyoucanbecomepartofawiderconversation. Aglobalconversationaboutglobalproblems. Likeclimatechangeorpoverty. Orhungerordisease. Theworldhasotheruniversallanguages. Mathematicsisthelanguageofscience. Musicisthelanguageofemotions. AndnowEnglishisbecomingthelanguageofproblemsolving. NotbecauseAmericaispushingit. Butbecausetheworldispullingit. SoEnglishmaniaisaturningpoint. Liketheharnessingofelectricityinourcities, orthefalloftheBerlinWall, Englishrepresentshopeforabetterfuture. Afuturewheretheworldhasacommonlanguagetosolveitscommonproblems.
Thankyouverymuch. (Applause)