I know this is going to be difficult, though so obvious to everyone. Researchers at the CAS should be able to communicate well with non-Chinese speaking colleagues outside the Middle Kingdom. Instead of waiting for the foreign devils to master Chinese, which may take several generations, we Chinese just have to go through the hell of learning English and mastering IT.

Over and over again, I see our Chinese suffer the “language problem.” To be #1 in China is not enough for the CAS, because that is not what the CAS is set out to be. You want to be #1 in the world, as long as the world does not end today (May 21, 2011).

One of my Chinese colleagues at the CAS told me that listening to debates in English is relatively easy to him. The problem is to join the debate, say about the global warming issue. To be among the world leaders in sciences, one has to be able to get up and shout: “No, we disagree!”

Just yesterday, a Chinese visiting scholar at the UH East-West Center said to me that it’s a pity that he had to present his research in English. His English is not bad, but is far from being able to communicate with the audience at ease.

 

So, please, give up on hoping the foreign devils will speak Chinese soon. You can master English if you have reached where you are, as a member at an institute under the CAS.

 

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