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Do Chinese people still need English in the AI era? I want outsiders to weigh in

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Thinking LLM Career

Source discussion: In the AI wave, do kids still need to grind English? (V2EX, ~2,572 views / 34 replies)

A parent posted on V2EX, a Chinese tech forum: languages will be flattened by AI, so there is no need to throw money at kids’ English unless they like it. What do you all think?

After reading the thread, one pattern is loud: almost nobody endorsed “drop English because AI exists.” The real disagreement was whether to cram outside school.

What the Chinese thread argued

Rough split of comment camps

Across 34 replies, five camps showed up:

  1. Learn normally, don’t grind (largest)
    Keep up with school. Skip 1-on-1 tutors and panic spending. Language isn’t that hard; put spare energy into thinking skills.

  2. Still essential
    Study abroad, immigration, foreign employers, Nature / Science, and many strong AI products still run on English. Live translation mid-conversation is clumsy. Wealthy families do not debate “whether” to learn it.

  3. Pushback on “AI flattens language”
    “Then skip math and science too.” Having AI ≠ not needing built-in ability. You cannot keep pulling out a translator in every face-to-face exchange.

  4. Interest / talent first
    Forced study gets returned to the teacher. Shows, movies, short daily practice beat cram schools. Some reject obsessive speaking drills — reading and writing matter more day to day.

  5. Screening reality
    Gaokao, résumés, immigration tests, and English-first information feeds still use language as a cheap filter. One line stuck: don’t bet a child’s future on a sci-fi “translation earpiece.”

Memorable quotes from the thread:

  • “English isn’t what matters — the socioeconomic system behind English is.”
  • “If you’re fastening screws in a factory, sure, skip it. If you want upside, English is baseline.”
  • “Your urgent job isn’t figuring out what the kid should learn — it’s figuring out what you should learn.”

Someone from Shanghai noted that middle-school English scores are compressed near the top; math variance is what separates people. A few said a Gaokao English ~120/150 is “enough.” Nobody said zero is fine.

My takeaway from the thread

The real fork: learn vs. grind

The AI framing was a distraction. The Chinese consensus is closer to:

Don’t panic-buy tutors. Don’t outsource the filter either.

AI raises the floor of “can limp through with translation.” It has not removed three things:

  1. Information access — papers, product docs, open-source discussions still default to English.
  2. Social screening — exams, visas, and interviews still treat English scores as a cheap sieve.
  3. Real-time trust — meetings and arguments lose rhythm (and status) when every sentence needs a machine middleman.

So “should Chinese people learn English?” is almost a fake question. “How hard should they grind it?” is the real one — and it depends on the path (abroad, research, global products, vs. local work).

Open invitation: non-Chinese readers, please judge this

Outsiders' view wanted

The section above is an insider snapshot: Chinese programmer-parents arguing on a Chinese forum. I want the outside view.

If you did not grow up in China, I’d love your honest take in the comments (English or Chinese is fine):

  • In your country, after AI translation got good, do families still push kids to learn a foreign language seriously? Which one, and why?
  • If a Chinese collaborator spoke only Chinese and worked through translators end-to-end, would you discount them on trust, speed, or promotion?
  • From the outside: is English for average Chinese people a real necessity, or mostly an elite screening ritual? Will AI dismantle that ritual in 5–10 years?
  • One sentence of advice for Chinese parents — grind English after school, or pass school English and spend the hours on math / coding / sports — which would you pick?

Please share this with friends abroad if you can. I want the non-Chinese critique, not just another Chinese echo chamber.

My temporary stance: AI is a great tutor, not a passport. Until the screening rules change, treat English as a ticket, not a religion — buy the ticket, don’t spend adolescence living in a tutoring center.

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