Better language skills, she reckons, are a product less of market demand than of a general enthusiasm for China.

ECONOMIST: The craze for teaching Chinese may be a misguided fad

Robert Coben, a neuropsychologist on Long Island, has recently published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Neurotherapy a study of autistic children who, by playing special computer games, have improved connections among neurons in the frontal and temporal lobes, resulting in fewer repetitive behaviors, better socialization and improved language skills.

FORBES: New Hope For Autism

Like the Neanderthals, the newcomers had been busy, too, developing advanced tools and weapons, better navigational skills, trade, complex language, art and other forms of symbolic thinking.

WSJ: Neanderthals: Why Us and Not Them?

Call-centres are rather better placed, as central Europe's language skills give it a big advantage over most other locations.

ECONOMIST: Outsourcing in eastern Europe