You can generalize from experience but not from "non-fact". And you say yourself that Americans do not try to learn foreign languages. So how is it possible to establish how they would do with languages in general when the only who actually study are those who are motivated enough to study until they get some sort of proficiency ? Your sample may well correspond to the sample of Taiwanese who have been actually enjoying ESL courses and have managed to gain some communication skills _despite_ the fact that ESL in Taiwan is generally not aiming at providing such skills.
>>> I suggest that this extremely high rate of failure can
>>> be ascribed to the incredible sucktastickness of ESL
>>> programs in taiwanese schools.
>>
>> No, only to the goals set by the educational system.
>> Which in a lot of places does not include "communicate", but rather
>> "pass the exams" with easy to score exam sheets.
> Yes, this is what i have been saying.
> But you do not agree that an ESL program that does not take
> communication as one of its goals is not sucktastic? In fact i would
> think that would be quite a reliable criterion of suckery.
A system of compulsory education that does not include a few foreign languages sucks much more in my opinion. Way more.
Jean-Christophe