The Prospects of Chinese-EnglishBlingualism in China: A Sociolinguistic View

ＴｈｅＰｒｏｓｐｅｃｔｓｏｆＣｈｉｎｅｓｅ－ＥｎｇｌｉｓｈＢｌｉｎｇｕａｌｉｓｍｉｎＣｈｉｎａ：ＡＳｏｃｉｏｌｉｎｇｕｉｓｔｉｃＶｉｅｗＣｈｅＹｏｎｇｐｉｎｇ（ＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＦｏｒｅｉｇｎＬａｎｇｕａｇｅｓ，ＫｕｎｍｉｎｇＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅ...

Although English is currently learned as a foreign language in China andwill probably be so in a great many years, it has already gained a greater popularitythan any other foreign language taught in China and has begun to have social function to some extent. With the development of economy and society, more and morepeople in China are dedicating their efforts to English learning and English will beused more extensively than people could imagine. As a result of this growing tend-ency,a considerable number of Chinese will become bilingual in Chinese and Engl-ing in the foreseeable future. With things as they are now developing, it can be seenthat there will be a bright future for Chinese-English bilingualism in the Zlst century China. From a sociolinguistic point of view, a brief description of the presentlanguage change is provided.This paper makes an attempt to explore the possiblityand practicability of this development. Both the advantages and disadvantages ofbeing bilingual are discussed .