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Jay Walker: The world's English mania
Youtube link
Translation from English to Slovenian
TED link
http://www.walkerdigital.com/
English Transcript
0:11
Let's talk about manias. Let's start with Beatlemania.
0:17
(Recording of crowd roaring)
0:19
Hysterical teenagers, crying, screaming, pandemonium.
0:25
(Recording of crowd roaring)
0:28
Sports mania: deafening crowds, all for one idea -- get the ball in the net.
(Recording) Goal! 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.
0:53
(Recording of crowd cheering)
0:57
The world has a new mania. A mania for learning English. Listen as Chinese
students practice their English, by screaming it:
1:07
Teacher: ... change my life!
1:09
Students: I want to change my life!
1:11
T: I don't want to let my parents down!
1:14
S: I don't want to let my parents down!
1:18
T: I don't ever want to let my country down!
1:21
S: I don't ever want to let my country down!
1:25
T: Most importantly... S: Most importantly...
1:28
T: I don't want to let myself down!
1:31
S: I don't want to let myself down!
1:34
How many people are trying to learn English worldwide? Two billion of them.
1:39
Students: A t-shirt. A dress.
1:43
Jay Walker: 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.
2:05
(Laughter)
2:07
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. Twenty-five percent of her grade is based on English. It's called the
gaokao, and 80 million high school Chinese students have already taken this
grueling test. The intensity to learn English is almost unimaginable, unless you
witness it.
2:49
Teacher: Perfect! Students: Perfect!
2:51
T: Perfect! S: Perfect!
2:54
T: I want to speak perfect English!
2:56
S: I want to speak perfect English!
2:58
T: I want to speak ... S: I want to speak ...
3:01
T: ... perfect English! S: ... perfect English!
3:03
T (yelling more loudly): I want to change my life!
3:07
S (yelling more loudly): I want to change my life!
3:10
JW: 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.
4:01
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.
4:17
Thank you very much.
4:18
(Applause)
***
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.
Jay Walker is fascinated by intellectual property in all its forms. His firm, Walker Digital, created Priceline and many other businesses that reframe old problems with new IT. In his private life, he's a bibliophile and collector on an epic scale.
Why you should listen
It's befitting that an entrepreneur and inventor so prolific and acclaimed would
curate a library devoted, as he says, to the astonishing capabilities of the
human imagination. TIME twice named him one of the "50 most influential business
leaders in the digital age," and he holds more than 200 patents. Jay Walker's
companies -- under Walker Digital -- have alone served tens of millions of
people and amassed billions in value.
A chunk of his net worth went into building this enchanting library space, whose exhibits (please touch!) go back, roughly, to the point our species learned to write, with a slight post-moveable type bias. Brimming with exquisitely illustrated books and artifacts (Enigma machine; velociraptor skeleton), the library itself is a marvel. Is it the glowing etched glass panels, or the Vivaldi piped from hidden speakers that gives it that je ne sais quoi? Maybe it's Walker himself, whose passion for the stuff just glows. It's apparent to those lucky enough to snag a tour.
At the 2008 TED Conference, Walker lent many of his priceless and geeky artifacts to decorate the stage -- including a real Sputnik artificial satellite, a Star Wars stormtrooper helmet and a Gutenberg bible. After you've watched his talk, the WIRED article is a must-read.
What others say
“Walker shuns the sort of bibliomania that covets first editions for their
own sake ... What gets him excited are things that changed the way people think.”
— Steven Levy, WIRED