It’s turning into a bit of a collection. Better than collecting stamps, I suppose:

1.5 billion – Estimated number of English speakers

up to 400 million – number of Chinese learning English (nearly a third of the population)

over 50,000 – number of private English schools in China

$4.4 billion – turnover of TEFL industry in China in 2010

20 million – number of “graduates” of Crazy English” (slogan: Conquer English to Make China Stronger!), at up to $250 dollars for a single “lesson” in a stadium

31 – the number of teachers in one school in Arizona who took accent reduction lessons to pass a state language test

60% – the number of Asians in the U.S. who are foreign-born

71% – the number of Asians in the US who speak a language other than English at home

77%.- the number of Hispanics in the US who speak a language other than English at home

up to 12% – the decrease in earnings of even fully fluent individuals for whom English is a second language in the US over the course of their careers

All these from the Wall Street Journal:

Is proper English dying, and should us care?

Click on the “stats” tag below for more.