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Fourth-grade chinese students learn english in a primary school in Wuhan, central China November 2, 2009 Photo: China Daily

Soon China, the world’s most populous country, may become the world’s largest english-speaking country.  Around 2 billion people learn english worldwide and a huge portion is made up by chinese as 200m to 350m chinese are either studying or speaking english.  The english language market has nearly doubled in size over the past five years, and english education in China is continuing to spread. There are already 50,000 private english institutes throughout China with more and more opening up every month.

In the eight larges cities, 55.4 percent of the chinese have received english training, with another 21.2 percent saying that they planned to, according to the Social Survey Institute of China.
Other more affordable sources of english training are also gaining popularity. Skype-lessons with overseas teachers are becoming more available, as well as private foreign and chinese tutors.

A growing number of chinese students head to the United States to study at american universities. The total number of students who studied abroad increased from 144,000 in 2007 to 170,000 in 2008 and is expected to extend to 200,000 this year.

Educaedu plans on launching a chinese site within a few weeks.  Soon, chinese students will be able  to browse for educational programs in China as well as in 20 other countries around the world.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk and Chinadaily.com.cn

Tags: China, Educaedu China, Study English, United States