9 ms·

I think a more efficient way for China to 'block the internet' is to stop teaching English altogether in schools. And I won't be surprised if that actually happ

I think a more efficient way for China to 'block the internet' is to stop teaching English altogether in schools. And I won't be surprised if that actually happens.

jamescostian 9y ago
I know Google Translate and other translation services make loads of mistakes, but they often give you a pretty good idea of what's being said.
- owenversteeg 9y ago
  From English to Spanish things are pretty decent. But from English to other languages it can get pretty horrible. But that doesn't even matter - the main thing is the barrier to reading a lot, not getting the gist from one article. If you can read English, you'll probably encounter Western perspectives all the time on the Internet. But if you're forced to go through a broken Chinese machine translation every time you encounter something in English, you're going to stay on the Chinese parts of the Internet.
OnlineCourage 9y ago
I would be absolutely shocked if this happens. Less than 1% of China's population speaks English beyond learning for business purposes. Making learning English illegal would be impossible to enforce, you would have to build additional infrastructure on the internet just to specifically block english courses. What you are suggesting is actually more complex.
- heroprotagonist 9y ago
  To be fair, there is a world of difference between 'stop teaching English in schools' and 'making learning English illegal'.
- kimolas 9y ago
  My Chinese friends tell me it's no longer mandatory for students to take English classes, but it'll likely never be banned outright.
- vinceguidry 9y ago
  I would never want to underestimate the ability of the CCP to scale solutions to political problems. It is, after all, the whole reason the party exists. We once thought the GFW would be impossible and laughed at it.
gbog 9y ago
Some people are happy to shoot themselves in the feet (looking at your brexit) but I don't think Chinese are like that. Stopping right now all English courses in China would be harmful and unproductive. As would be blocking VPNs for real.
- adventured 9y ago
  > Some people are happy to shoot themselves in the feet (looking at your brexit) but I don't think Chinese are like that. History disagrees with that statement. Communism was China shooting itself in the foot in the first place. The Great Firewall is China shooting itself in the foot. The lack of numerous freedoms the developed world takes for granted, is China shooting itself in the foot. China has a very long history of regularly shooting itself in the foot. They'd be a far more advanced nation economically, scientifically and culturally, were they to end the Communist Party oppression.
  - vacri 9y ago
    Brexit happened after a long period of political stability in a country with a long, mature history at the forefront of international politics. Communism in China came to the fore during the tumult of the second world war, which had foreign troops razing half of China - after a period where China was colonised by a different foreign power which kept the powers in China as ignorant as possible. They're very different things.
- Hasknewbie 9y ago
  There is an odd tendency to ascribe some sort of scheming long-term vision to the Chinese government, probably based on memories of dynasties that managed to reign over an empire for centuries. The CCP is nothing like that. As soon as they got into power, they triggered the "great leap forward" (miscalculated "modernization", and famine that killed dozens of millions), followed by the Cultural Revolution that bordered on civil war and spawned a generation of illiterate, starving zombies ("lost generation "). The CCP has a pretty terrible record at avoiding shooting themselves (or China) in the foot. They probably killed more Chinese people than Imperial Japan did.
zczc 9y ago
There is a lot of Chinese language content to censor coming from Taiwan, Hong Kong and diaspora
schuke 9y ago
They still want to make money. What they're doing instead is to reduce the percentage of foreign (translated) textbooks in schools, especially in universities.

I think a more efficient way for China to 'block the internet' is to stop teaching English altogether in schools. And I won't be surprised if that actually happens.

jamescostian 9y ago

I know Google Translate and other translation services make loads of mistakes, but they often give you a pretty good idea of what's being said.

owenversteeg 9y ago
From English to Spanish things are pretty decent. But from English to other languages it can get pretty horrible. But that doesn't even matter - the main thing is the barrier to reading a lot, not getting the gist from one article. If you can read English, you'll probably encounter Western perspectives all the time on the Internet. But if you're forced to go through a broken Chinese machine translation every time you encounter something in English, you're going to stay on the Chinese parts of the Internet.

OnlineCourage 9y ago

I would be absolutely shocked if this happens. Less than 1% of China's population speaks English beyond learning for business purposes. Making learning English illegal would be impossible to enforce, you would have to build additional infrastructure on the internet just to specifically block english courses. What you are suggesting is actually more complex.

heroprotagonist 9y ago
To be fair, there is a world of difference between 'stop teaching English in schools' and 'making learning English illegal'.
kimolas 9y ago
My Chinese friends tell me it's no longer mandatory for students to take English classes, but it'll likely never be banned outright.
vinceguidry 9y ago
I would never want to underestimate the ability of the CCP to scale solutions to political problems. It is, after all, the whole reason the party exists. We once thought the GFW would be impossible and laughed at it.

gbog 9y ago

Some people are happy to shoot themselves in the feet (looking at your brexit) but I don't think Chinese are like that. Stopping right now all English courses in China would be harmful and unproductive. As would be blocking VPNs for real.

adventured 9y ago
> Some people are happy to shoot themselves in the feet (looking at your brexit) but I don't think Chinese are like that. History disagrees with that statement. Communism was China shooting itself in the foot in the first place. The Great Firewall is China shooting itself in the foot. The lack of numerous freedoms the developed world takes for granted, is China shooting itself in the foot. China has a very long history of regularly shooting itself in the foot. They'd be a far more advanced nation economically, scientifically and culturally, were they to end the Communist Party oppression.
- vacri 9y ago
  Brexit happened after a long period of political stability in a country with a long, mature history at the forefront of international politics. Communism in China came to the fore during the tumult of the second world war, which had foreign troops razing half of China - after a period where China was colonised by a different foreign power which kept the powers in China as ignorant as possible. They're very different things.
Hasknewbie 9y ago
There is an odd tendency to ascribe some sort of scheming long-term vision to the Chinese government, probably based on memories of dynasties that managed to reign over an empire for centuries. The CCP is nothing like that. As soon as they got into power, they triggered the "great leap forward" (miscalculated "modernization", and famine that killed dozens of millions), followed by the Cultural Revolution that bordered on civil war and spawned a generation of illiterate, starving zombies ("lost generation "). The CCP has a pretty terrible record at avoiding shooting themselves (or China) in the foot. They probably killed more Chinese people than Imperial Japan did.

zczc 9y ago

There is a lot of Chinese language content to censor coming from Taiwan, Hong Kong and diaspora

schuke 9y ago

They still want to make money. What they're doing instead is to reduce the percentage of foreign (translated) textbooks in schools, especially in universities.