just wondering. do schools in korea and china teach english as a subject? if not, wouldn't it be better so players that go abroad can speak at least some english? that would surely help them settle in. same goes with japan.
Huh? Not everyone in the world speaks English, German would be more useful if one wants to play in Germany, for example. And yes, English as well as other foreign languages are taught in schools, but unless one has the opportunity to use it daily, retention won't be good.
for Korea, the players don't participate in those foreign language classes. That's the real problem. In Korea, athletes are sort of exempt from being "educated." I still remember the baseball players in my middle school. They were technically students of the school, but they all skipped the classes and the teachers didn't care.
English is requirement subject since jr high school in Korea, but they emphasis on english grammar and writings than hearing and speaking. so they can write and read english but cant even say a simple sentense. If you hear them saying "I want to go to bathroom" it sounds like "eye want two goat-too bass room"
It is about the same here in Taiwan. Students tend to write reasonably well and can respond well to questions that they have studied. However, if you try variations on that, they tend not to do so well. Pronounciation is also sometimes a problem, though I work on that with my students.
In Japan the Ministry of Education has been working on this issue, but things aren't improving. It's all up to individuals' efforts after leaving school despite at least six years of English education. There must be a more efficient way of learning. I admire anyone who can speak more than two languages fluently.
About the same in China, if you ask them to write some essays, they might do a good job. But it's quite difficult for them to have a conversation with foreigners.
i still say best way to learn the language in a non-speaking country is to watch lots of english-speaking tv programs.