Re: English Speakers in Israel According to the Wikipedia

On Monday 15 September 2008, Ori Idan wrote:
> The question is how do we define English speaker.
> If English speaker is defined as someone whose main language is English,
> maybe Wikipedia is right, although I also find it strange that the number
> is so low.

No, it's not. Reading from the first paragraph:

{{{{{{{
This is a list of countries of the world sorted by the total English-speaking 
population in that country. This includes both native speakers and second 
language speakers of English. Statistics on second language speakers are 
usually imprecise, in part because there is no widely agreed definition of 
second language speakers, so these figures should be treated with caution.
}}}}}}}

And the table has several columns:

* Total English Speakers

* As First Language 

* As an Additional Language

So it doesn't matter what is the language you use the most everyday, as long 
as you know English - you're counted in. So Wikipedia is wrong in the figures 
for Israel.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

>
> --
> Ori Idan
>
> On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 5:51 PM, Shlomi Fish <shlomif-ik1l9ssToec+JF/[email protected]> wrote:
> >   Hi all!
> >
> > According to:
> >
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_popula
> >tion
> >
> > Israel has a total of 100,000 English speakers. That makes little sense
> > to me
> > as:
> >
> > 1. Israeli pupils receive at least 8 years of English education before
> > university.
> >
> > 2. Most Israelis I know (or heard of) have a working knowledge of
> > English. Even cab drivers and kiosk salesmen tend to have usable English.
> >
> > 3. Israel is famous for the good knowledge of English of its inhabitants.
> >
> > 4. There are more University graduates who have acquired English in their
> > studies than that.
> >
> > ----------
> >
> > Looking at the chart it seems this number is equal to the number of
> > *native*
> > English speakers and there is no number for speakers as an additional
> > language. So this is misleading.
> >
> > Does anyone have any idea about how to correct this?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Shlomi Fish
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------
> > Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/
> > Understand what Open Source is - http://xrl.us/bjn82
> >
> > Shlomi, so what are you working on? Working on a new wiki about unit
> > testing
> > fortunes in freecell? -- Ran Eilam



-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish       http://www.shlomifish.org/
My Aphorisms - http://www.shlomifish.org/humour.html

Shlomi, so what are you working on? Working on a new wiki about unit testing 
fortunes in freecell? -- Ran Eilam

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