Dear ABC,
Thank you for sharing <U><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG><a href="https://www.enfamily.cn/dispbbs.asp?boardID=8&amp;ID=491&amp;page=1" target="_blank" >this article</A></STRONG></FONT></U> with us. I decided to start a new thread in response to<FONT color=#0000ff> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><U><a href="https://www.enfamily.cn/dispbbs.asp?boardID=27&amp;ID=474&amp;replyID=2061&amp;star=1&amp;skin=0#2061" target="_blank" ><STRONG>your post</STRONG></A></U></FONT> because this post seems not very relevant with the article you posted. It is just my reflection after having read the article. It should be a seperate (yet related) topic.
Personally I wouldn't compare China and India in respect to English education in particular and the two countries as a whole in general.
As we all know India was once a British colony of more than 100 years. In a large majority of the universities in today's India, everything is done in English. It is also the case for a great number of Secondary schools in India (but I am not sure about the percentage.) Aside from the historical reasons, this is also because of India's demographic situation. There is actually no dominant language in India althought they do have a national official language, Hindi, which is spoken by approximately 40% of the population, if I remember right. There are a large number of other different languages widely spoken in India, which are mutually unintelligible and each of which adapted different scripts. Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese are mutually unintelligible too but they share the same writing system. This makes much easier for us to learn a different Chinese dialect. English therefore is India's national offical language de facto. If an Indian wants to do business or find a job in a different city in India, he has to speak English, even if he has not received any college eduation.  All Indians I met, without exceptions, speak very good English, as good as Americans, although some of our fellow Chinese laugh at their accent. To compare our English with Indians' is like to compare our English with Americans'. It is simply not a fair comparison.
China and India are the two most populous neighboring countries in the world, sharing the strongest economic growth with China taking the lead. For obvious geopolitical reasons, we should emphasize cooperation between the two countries rather than competetion, although we had a very short war 40 years ago. Competetion should be recognized but it should not become the overall tone in the relationship. Unfortunately, however, there is no shortage of people like U.S. neoconservatives in the world. They are afraid of change of the world's status quo; they are afraid that two most populous developed countries would take up their share of resources. Both Chinese and Indians should be warned that any anti-China or anti-India sentiments should be contained, if not eliminated, at the very beginning. A competetion between China and India like the one between China and Japan for resource is something we absolutely don't, under any circumstances, want to see.
Well, I seem to have too much to say. Let me stop here for now. Just wish the best to the two countries.
Slowpoke <br>10/20/2005<br><br><br><br><br>

Dear <STRONG><FONT color=#f70909>slowpoke</FONT></STRONG>,
Thanks a lot for your informative post.
Actually I've got interest in the history of English in India for quite some time, but just haven't got enough seriousness to google it, though the Internet is just available at hand.
I've replied <FONT color=#000000></FONT><U><STRONG><FONT color=#f709f7><FONT color=#0909f7>abc</FONT>'s forwarded post</FONT></STRONG></U>, you may have a look of it over there at your convenience. Welcome to comment on my opinion.
Cheers! <br><br><br>

Dear Soso,
I read your post and replied. It's very interesting and professional.
Just in case you happen to be interested, check this out: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language" target="_blank" ><FONT color=#000000>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language</FONT></A>
It is a comprehensive introduction to international English.
Sinerely,
Slowpoke

Thanks for your attention.
In fact, I had no intention to start a debate about Indina and China; just want to motivate more people to speak English.

Dear ABC,
That's Okay. I understand that you may or may not agree every bit with that article and you would like to share with us something in it that makes sense. That is good. I appreciate that.
As I said my post is kind of irrelevant with the article you posted here. That's why I started a new thread. It's not a debate yet, at least not for now. Actually I welcome any comments and would like to hear different opinions. As Qi Yu's(齐豫) song <EM>Twist in My Sobriety</EM> goes, "Different thoughts are good for me." If the different opinions make sense, then I will listen to them and become smarter; if they don't, then it will reinforce my points from different perspectives; if no one can be convinced, then we are friends.
I know you agree with me
Slowpoke<br><br>

By the way, I was pleased to speak with you with skype, ABC (and Quickie by typing - his fault!). We will definitely do that again.
Slowpoke

Dear <STRONG><FONT color=#f70909>slowpoke</FONT></STRONG>,
I've read through the first quarter of the article that you recommended above. It's really great, as I've learned something from it.
Before I thought the combination of "Old German" and "Old French" resulted in the loss of gender in English, as I find the discrepancy between French and German regarding this. Now I know the fact, and it makes sense, as I know nothing about the Scandinavian languages.
It's still the first time that I got to know the "vowel shift", especially the "Great Vowel Shift". No wonder German has 7 long vowels but much fewer diphthongs than English, and French almost has no diphthongs at all.
Thanks again for your great recommendation.
Best Regards!
soso

Dear Soso,
Glad you find it interesting. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia written by people from around the world voluntarily. I can tell for sure through your posts you are an English language professional. I think you can contribute your knowledge and expertise too. You may do that simply by editting it. There is an edit link on each page. It'd be a great experience and a lot of fun.
Regards,
Slowpoke<br><br>

Dear slowpoke,
This is to share my knowledge on India with you. I heard it from one of my net-pals who is now working as an intern for a famous foreign company. He told me that many of his colleagues are Indians, thus he gets to know something about this country from his colleagues. Many Indians today can speak very good English though with strong accent. Most of them can even achieve the full mark in TOFFEL or GRE. Also, the Indians are very good at mathematics and software industry.
According to an article in Times, India is predicted as one of the major potential competitiors against China in all aspects in the next century(if I remember it correctly). However, personally, I have my reservations, for there is no family-planning policy in this country.With such a large population, how can India further develop itself?
Actually, I have read your post twice before I'm replying to it now. These two days, I seem to lose my interest in writing a little bit, I don't know why. Maybe I'm really sort of tired with my job. Anyway, I wish I could read more of your articles though I cannot reply to them in time.
All the best,
Sincerely yours,
Cactus

India is a China's major competitor in 21th century. Language advantage is a small factor;in fact, politics play a big role.
American feel and spread China's threat to all over the world. Japan likes son of US, but it lose the leadership in Asia as its ecornomy recession after 1990s, and its military role is limited as constitutional restriction.Ambitious India always wants to overpass China. Therefore,the US supports India to balance china's influence in Asia.
For instance, software industry, US and India have more cooperation than china does; many companies move to India, but US politicians only blame China,while seldom mention India.