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A comment on China now the most prolific contributor to physical sciences, engineering, math. Parent comment

Re:China now the most prolific contributor to physical scien... by adrianN on Thursday September 13, 2018 @04:25AM (#17976952)
It started with the rise of the British Empire. Pax Americana just helped solidify it. Even without an English speaking US, English would be about as popular as Mandarin: there are a billion Indians.
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Re:China now the most prolific contributor to physical scien... by _jgdh on Thursday September 13, 2018 @07:08AM (#17977661)
> there are a billion Indians

That is true... but only 10% of Indians can speak English. It might appear higher because visitors are likely to remain in urban or tourist-y areas, where the percentage of English speakers is much higher.

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Re:China now the most prolific contributor to physical scien... by adrianN on Thursday September 13, 2018 @07:40AM (#17977796)
China also has many topolects. Only two thirds of Chinese speak Mandarin as first language.
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Re:China now the most prolific contributor to physical scien... by pimmen on Thursday September 13, 2018 @01:31PM (#17980549)
English still has a lot of influence over India, though. I think this thread is confusing influence with supremacy, English has had a huge influence on other languages and cultures for centuries.
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