ESL Blogs

I recently attended a conference in China. Several medical researchers or experts from English-speaking countries, such as the US, were invited to the conference, too. Most of the audience, however, were Chinese. So, you bet there were a few interpreters who helped translate what the English-speaking lecturers were giving into Chinese. Don't get me wrong - I was not one of the interpreters, but I did ask a few questions in English when it was time for the audience to ask.

I asked in English "Dr Rogers, I have a question for you.  I was wondering if you just mentioned that the device was available only in some of the big cities in the US?"  Dr Rogers smiled and asked the interpreter to translate my question into Chinese in case the others don't understand what I just asked. Dr Rogers must have known that most of the Chinese who attended the conference were not good at understanding spoken English. It's quite true that most Chinese doctors are not good at English listening or speaking, even though they may have started learning English when they were in elementary school. They are good at reading, though - they can read English books, newspapers, magazines etc. The reason for that is they don't have to speak English or they don't have to communicate with others in English. They speak Chinese all the time. In China, even medical textbooks are written in Chinese. That can be a problem when they need to communicate in English - though they do learn medical English at university.  

Dr Rogers answered my question and we exchanged some words. He might have wondered "How come this guy's English is so good, while...?"  I bet he may have guessed that I might have learned English in an English-speaking country, but he must have had no idea that I am a moderator of MyEC.