Figure 15.1 Asia
One item on the poll is of particular interest here. When asked “Which
language is spoken by the most people in the world as their primary
language?” 74 percent answered English; only 18 percent gave the correct
answer (Mandarin Chinese). The Roper Report suggests that there is a
connection between the general false belief in the primacy of English and
the fact that 62 percent of our young adults do not speak any foreign
language (ibid.: 33).