Re: English Speakers in Israel According to the Wikipedia

It really seems to be wrong.
The question is can we find a figure that seems more logical so we can edit
it?

-- 
Ori Idan


On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 6:51 PM, Shlomi Fish <[email protected]> wrote:

> 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 <[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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>
>
>
>


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