Communicate at what level? I've met Americans and others who have applied themselves to studying a foreign language, but their application -- even among professional translators -- rarely results in an ability to write in the languages they studied at the level I do (or Julio, Ravi, etc. here do) in English. Most professional translators only do one-way translation: from the foreign language they have learned to read to their native language, only concerning topics they specialize in.
> ALMOST
> ALL Taiwanese "study" english and work very hard at
> "studying" English, and despite years of grinding
> effort and strong desire to learn, usually fail.
I'm sure most of them fail in their own language, too, just as Americans fail in their own language, when it comes to writing, public speaking, and so on.
Besides, most Asians who study English hard simply want to do well enough to pass college entrance exams to get into prestigious universities, as you recognize yourself. I'm sure their study serves that purpose, as far as those who do well enough in other subjects, too, are concerned. Those few Asians who want to be more proficient -- like those who want to learn English well enough to be able to use it as tour guides, professional translators, foreign correspondents, college professors, etc. -- and work to achieve that goal generally do, too, except there is no guarantee that their proficiency in English necessarily leads to jobs or incomes they desire. The supply of jobs that demand high levels of proficiency in English tends to be much smaller than the demand for them among those who are proficient in English in Japan and the rest of Asia.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>