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Learn Chinese? AsiaSociety.org ARE AMERICANS AT A LINGUISTIC DISADVANTAGE AS CHINA CONTINUES ITS RAPID RISE? NATIVE English SPEAKERS OF Chinese 328 million 845 million 60,000 > 300,000,000 AMERICANS LEARNING CHINESE CHINESE LEARNING ENGLISH whoa! that's more than the entire population of the United States! i = 100,000 elementary and secondary school students CHINA'S POPULATION IS FOUR TIMES GREATER THAN THE UNITED STATES', BUT THEY HAVE PROPORTIONATELY 3,000% MORE CHINESE-ENGLISH BILINGUAL CITIZENS. CHINA HAS THE SECOND GREATEST LARGEST, BUT FASTEST GDPS GROWING ECONOMY IN THE WORLD. THE UNITED STATES HAS THE STRONGEST ECONOMY, BUT IS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO KEEP A COMPETITIVE EDGE. 66 American companies lose $2 billion each year because they lack cross-cultural skills. ,7 - Council on Economic Development SOURCES: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Asia Society, Council on Economic Development, CIA World Fact Book, The Economist, World Internet Stats