It's certainly evident, throughout the course of recent history, that English speaking countries have usually prospered among the large mix of world nations. Just to speak English, of course, does not guarantee the success of a nation. There are poor English speaking nations in the world as well (Zimbabwe for example). But there is a strong correlation between the success of a nation and its ability to speak English. That is why so many countries of the world are forcing their rising generation to learn English.
China is already the most populated country in the world, accounting for over 1 billion people (nearly 1/6 of the world's population). Imagine that? There are just over 300 million in the United States. So in terms of population, China dwarfs America. Of course in regards to GDP, no country comes close to the U.S.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)). With that said, we are all aware of the troubles that the U.S. economy faces; the U.S. deficit is spiraling rapidly out of control. It imports far more than it exports, and it hasn't successfully balanced a budget since the early years of Bill Clinton. More and more, it has become reliant upon other countries to feed it's ever-increasing consumer appetite. And there is perhaps no other country today that it depends on more for this than China. China is probably the largest export nation in the world, supplying nearly any product imaginable at dirt-cheap prices. America has become so indebted to China that it's become ridiculous. If China ever came to us and said, "OK, enough's enough. It's time to collect," the U.S. would be in trouble. With that said, China is quickly rising among world powers. It still remains very poor in its per capita quality of living. But it has the third largest GDP of any country in the world and is home to some of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world (18 of the 100 largest cities in the world are in China. The U.S. only has 11. http://www.worldatlas.com/citypops.htm). It's economy is taking off, and English lessons are only the tip of the iceberg.
I believe that China is on its way to becoming the next world power. As I see it, it's not a matter of "if" but "when". The U.S. will need to gain control of its borrowing and spending habits if it truly wants to stay on top of the world economies.
Thoughts?
The world's "lingua franca" is English and an estimated two billion are trying to learn it as their linguistic passport to business success and global access. China leads the pack, followed by India and Eastern Europe.
"This year China will become the world's largest English-speaking nation of more than 300 million," said Mike Kraft, CEO of Lingo Media Corporation which is poised to cash in on this gigantic market.
But English speaking is a bit of a misnomer. The problem in China is a shortage of teachers who actually speak English properly.
Enter Lingo Media, Kraft's small, Toronto-listed company. He has been a specialty publisher for years who has been developing English textbook products for China's governments for years. Then he realized the teacher shortage problem so he just launched a breakthrough web-based learning product, using voice recognition software, for the Chinese market.
Within one year of operation, it has signed up one million registered users and is growing its client base exponentially.
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