The world's English mania - Jay Walker

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-world-s-english-mania-jay-walker

Jay Walker explains why two billion people around the world are trying to learn English. He shares photos and spine-tingling audio of Chinese students rehearsing English -- "the world's second language" -- by the thousands.

Talk by Jay Walker.

let's talk about

manias let's start with Beatlemania

hysterical teenagers crying screaming

pandemonium Sports mania deafening

crowds all for one idea get the ball in

the net

okay religious mania

there's rapture there's weeping there's

visions manias can be good manias can be

alarming or manias can be deadly the

world has a new mania a mania for

learning English listen as Chinese

students practice their English by

screaming it

I don't want to let my parents down

I don't ever want to make my country guy

mouthing constantly

I don't want to let myself down

how many people are trying to learn

English worldwide two billion of them in

Latin America in India in Southeast Asia

and most of all in China if you're a

Chinese student you start learning

English in the third grade by law that's

why this year China will become the

world's largest english-speaking country

why English in a single word opportunity

opportunity for a better life a job to

be able to pay for school or put better

food on the table imagine a student

taking a giant test for three full days

her score on this one test literally

determines her future she studies 12

hours a day for three years to prepare

25% of her grade is based on English

it's called the GAO cow an 80 million

high school Chinese students have

already taken this grueling test the

intensity to learn English is almost

unimaginable unless you witness it

English I want to change my life

so is English mania good or bad is

English a tsunami washing away other

languages not likely English is the

world's second language your native

language is your life but with English

you can become part of a wider

conversation a global conversation about

global problems like climate change or

poverty or hunger or disease the world

has other Universal languages

mathematics is the language of science

music is the language of emotions and

now English is becoming the language of

problem solving not because America is

pushing it but because the world is

pulling it so English mania is a turning

point

like the harnessing of electricity in

our cities or the fall of the Berlin

Wall

English represents hope for a better

future a future where the world has a

common language to solve its common

problems thank you very much