This sheer numerical dominance, plus the fact that China has the world's fastest-growing economy, has made Mandarin Chinese attractive as a foreignlanguage for more American students.
That's why experts urge schools to give students with dyslexia extra time on tests, waive foreignlanguage requirements and grade separately for creativity and spelling.
We spent one afternoon with well-dressed students at Kim Il Sung University and later at a foreignlanguage high school where very bright 16-year-olds were learning English complete with American slang.
Statisticians say this is because of an increase of foreignstudents at independent schools taking different examinations aimed at those with English as a second language.