posted by Sam Richards
I’ve been saying for over a decade that students should learn Mandarin if they want to ensure that they’ll have a future in the economic marketplace that includes unlimited upward mobility…and a job. Out of the thousands who have heard the message, a few have listened. Not bad.
So here is an article about the increase in the number of high schools teaching either Mandarin or Cantonese, even though there is an overall reduction in teaching of foreign language classes. (Spanish remains constant, by the way.) Hmm…someone is listening. Not teaching language in high school is probably not a big deal; I’ve rarely met anyone who truly learned to speak a foreign language after even four years of study. So why waste the time? But if we’re going to invest, I suppose Mandarin (and Spanish) is the way to go.
This from the New York Times: “Foreign Languages Fade in Class–Except Chinese”
And here’s your first Mandarin Chinese language lesson in case you want to get started:
Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world, why would you not want to learn it? Being bi-lingual is one of the most valuable skills a person could have. Students should take the opportunities of foreign language classes while they can. Parents and teachers should urge their students to take foreign languages because they benefit you greatly especially in the business world. Today, globalization has brought countries closer and more and more interaction with other countries is happening every day through business transactions, politics, etc.
It is good that schools are now incorporating Mandarin into their school programs. In China, many students go to Sunday school to learn English, this shows that both U.S and China recognize the importance of learning each other’s languages. I am currently taking Mandarin and plan to minor in it. Although some may think it is a difficult language with weird symbols and characters, it is not. People have the wrong impression of Mandarin Chinese just because it is foreign to them. The language is actually straight forward and easy to learn especially if taught at younger ages. Imagine learning English from a Chinese person’s perspective. English is thought to be way harder to learn than most other languages. The language has so many technical rules that make it extremely difficult to learn as a second language. English has so many broken rules that do not make sense if you actually examine the language and how some rules contradict others.
It is not surprising that Spanish and Chinese have become more widely taught than many of the other languages. These two languages along with English have proven to be widely used among the populations of the world. I do not agree with the people who say that English is the “main language of the world.” That is so narrow-minded. There is no main language and any language you learn is beneficial. Also many people think that only business major benefit from learning Mandarin Chinese, but that is completely wrong. For instance, over the summer I worked at a doctor’s office for an internship, and one of my duties was to handle the patient calls. Surprisingly I was able to put my Mandarin skills to the test as many of patients were Asian and spoke Mandarin only! Because I learned Mandarin, I quickly became a valuable resource to the office for Asian patients. Knowing the language expands your opportunities in where you can work. It may not be the “future language,” but it will definitely be evident that people who are fluent in Chinese will see the benefits of it. Sam is not the only one who I have heard recommending Mandarin Chinese as a language. I have heard from many job recruiters say that they would recommend learning Mandarin Chinese and it skill that they look for in resumes.
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I think it is a great idea that public schools are starting to teach mandarin Chinese. I wish it had happened sooner when I was still in middle school or high school. Chinese is one of the most popular languages in the world. China’s economy is also booming and businesses are expanding all over the world. Depending upon your career goals, learning to speak Chinese would be very beneficial and make you stand out when applying for a job. Watching that video of the kid trying to teach one Chinese phrase in English was crazy. No matter how many times he said it I do not think I would have ever said it right. Chinese is such a difficult language and completely different from English! If schools are going to teach a language and actually want it to stick with us through our entire life I think schools need to start at soon as elementary schools or sooner. The only people that I know speak another language other than English, the know it fluently because their parents speak it and starting their children at a very young age. I took Spanish in high school and I barely remember any of if. When I came to college I wanted to have a second major in Italian and hopefully be able to speak it fluently one day. I do not think that would ever happen unless I was speaking Italian constantly every single day. That would have been impossible. If I truly wanted to learn the language and speak it fluently I would have had to move to Italy for a couple years. People claim that Americans do not speak more than one language because we are lazy. I think that is completely false. American is not lazy we are geographically challenged. Europeans are always surrounded by people who speak other languages so it is a lot easier for them to learn the language and keep learning outside the classroom unlike Americans. Everyone for the most part speaks English and is only surrounded by English speaking people. We do not have the convenience like Europeans and other countries do. Europeans also probably start a younger age than Americans do as well. I am sure if I moved away for a couple of years to Italy or China and was forced to only speak that language I would come back fluent or at least semi fluent. I see in the article pictures of young children learning to speak Chinese and I think that is great. They are not going to regret it and it will be so much easier for them to get a job in the future. That is such a great advantage they will have over other people.
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I think that teaching Chinese (Mandarin) in schools in America is a great idea and I hope that is keeps on becoming more and more common. At the same time it is a shame that some languages are pretty much going down hill and barley being taught in the United States. I know that when I was in grade school we did not have an option to learn a different language. Since I graduated from the school things have changed and they now have every class learn Italian, but at the same time this is a good thing but I think if they were able to teach Chinese or Spanish it would be more helpful for the students to come.
I took Spanish for 4 years in high school, even though it was only mandatory for 2, but I felt that I did not learn as much as I should have because I tried to pick it up at such a late age. If I were have had the option to learn it when I was younger it would have been instilled in me and I would remember a lot more. My high school did not give many options of different language classes. They had the option of Spanish, French and Italian but Italian ended up being disbanded when I was there because not enough students signed up for it. The students were able to choose which language they wanted to learn, which was good because you never want to force a student to learn something they really do not want to learn but that did stink for those students that wanted to learn Italian.
I think that many schools have around the same languages offered and it would be a really good idea to start including Chinese into the curriculum. I have only met one person that has taken a Chinese course and that was up here at Penn State. It does fit into his major, which is why he had to take it but it will definitely help him in the long run. Chinese is becoming for important in the world and I think especially for certain major, like business, it would help them out a lot to pick up a couple of Chinese courses to get a little under their belt cause there is a high chance they will run into this at some time in the future.
Offering Mandarin in schools, especially starting with the younger children, is a very good idea but I feel that you cannot force children to learn it. It would be good to somehow offer it to the students but not force them to learn it. Schools should not make this their main focus because they do not want to act like the other subjects are of lesser importance.
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The first emotion that I felt while reading this post was scared. While continuing to read the article I realized that this is such a foreign idea to me. Since I am way past elementary age I cannot imagine learning a foreign language at such a young age. The fact that being bilingual may be essential to succeed in the economic world is a scary thought. I believe that America is a free country but I don’t think other languages should begin to dominate our economy. The amount of schools that are teaching Chinese today is a big shock to me I would have never guessed that as many as 1,600 schools are teaching this language. It makes me think how I will fit in once all these children learning to speak one or two foreign languages come into the business world in which I work in. Will bilingual children be pushing elders out of there jobs once they are ready to find careers? I’m not comfortable with my future depending on my knowledge of a foreign language. Since I am older I do not have great faith that I will be able to learn a new language now. I feel that it is so much easier to learn a new language when you start at a young age opposed to starting to learn it in high school and college. As this article says, even after studying a language in high school for four years most teens can still not speak the studied language fluently. I feel that most teens will forget a majority of what they learned in there foreign language class in high school by the time they graduate from college. I myself have taken a Spanish class in high school for four years and I happened to really enjoy learning this language, yet most of my peers were not very fond of it and when they moved on to take Spanish in college they did not do well. While watching this video of the man teaching viewers to speak Chinese I realized that Chinese is taught differently then Spanish. It seems to me that Chinese is taught at a lot faster pace than Spanish is generally taught. I feel that Chinese classes teaches phrases at a time while Spanish focuses on single words at a time and then builds up into phrases. After watching both Spanish and Chinese lesson videos I noticed that the teachers are always very animated and hyper. I think this is because It is hard to get most people to stay interested in learning a language other than they’re own so they display these attitudes to attempt to keep viewers attention. Either way, if learning a new language is something I really need to do to have a career that I love I will just do it.
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I think everyone from ever race and every country should learn one other language. The language itself can be useful when you are stuck in very unpredictable circumstances. I understand that learning Spanish for a few years may not be enough to speak fluently in the language but the basics do help when needed. For example I went to Mexico in the summer for vacation, my friends and I got into a cab and the cab driver spoke to us in Spanish and asked us where we wanted to go. Everyone in the cab was confused because they would assume that he would speak some English. So I politely told him that we wanted to go to the mall in Spanish. The moral of this story is we can not always assume that our language is accepted everywhere as well, vice versa, everyone's languages are not accepted or known fluently everywhere. It would be very easy to say that everywhere should speak the same language but thats about changing cultures too and saying everyone should dress the same. Our language is apart of what make us, ourselves. As for the Mandarin language I could not really think of reasons that a lot of children want to learn this language until it hit me. This might not make sense but the best explanation I could think of is with languages just as Spanish or German you are given words. We see words everyday and some may or may not be in Spanish. With Mandarin you are learning essentially symbols. Which should gain interest enough. Every symbol means something different and I think that is why children are interest in that language. At the same time they are learning a language they are also learning art, by drawing the symbols out. I know a lot of elementary schools are starting to teach children at a very young age different languages. This is a good age to start out. I remember I didn't pick up or even start learning Spanish words until 10th grade in High School. Learning this early would enhance the child's mental development and give the child a chance to talk with someone of a different language if the chance came up which could add confidence. But then again if they do change the requirements to learn a language early on their would be different standards for college acceptance, this could be something good as the standards of learning would be harder. Striving the students to work towards a goal that could be achieved. Another thing that might be the reason that children want to learn this language is because it is new to them. They already work with Spanish daily with Dora the Explorer and probably other shows that help gain an understanding to Spanish but with Mandarin it's a completely new subject to them and this would gain their interest.
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I feel that it is a good idea to teach Chinese to elementary school children. It is also, in general, a good idea to teach children all sorts of foreign languages. Studies have shown that children learn languages better when they are younger, in the elementary grades. Chinese is a language that children should have the option to learn. It has a growing prevalence in the world and with China becoming an emerging world power; learning to speak Chinese is an excellent option.
I know, for example, my high school is now offering Chinese. About a year or two after I graduated the school started offering it because of the increasing demand. Although Chinese is the only language not offered at the AP level, it is still a step in the right direction. Students and the school are realizing the importance of learning this language.
When the article discussed educators going to China to learn, this struck me. Recently this year, many principles and other educators from my home school district were able to go to China for about a week. While there, they were able to see the school system. They were also able to take back many ideas from the Chinese school district. After talking to one of the principles that went, he said it amazed him that although the classrooms there had many more students then we do here; the students were much better behaved. They seemed to take their education much more seriously.
It also did not surprise me when the article said that Spanish was the language that was remaining constant. I know at my high school, Spanish was the language that had the most students. Most other languages had one class for the fourth level, while Spanish normally had three or four. I feel that this is because many people still believe that Spanish is the language that will get them ahead. Maybe if more people realized the power of Chinese and the growing need for the language more people would take it.
I think something to take away from this article, is the importance of learning languages early. As Sam pointed out, only taking a language for four years realistically is not going to do much. I took four years of Spanish, and although I did learn a lot, I hardly remember much. If we as a society want our youth to truly become fluent in another language, language programs in the school need to begin in kindergarten. This way, children will have years upon years of experience with the language and can truly become fluent. I feel that this is the only way we can compete in an increasing global market and world.
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This was a very interesting article and I think that it is great that more schools are offering Chinese. It is about time that schools are offering to teach kids one of the most popular languages. This step forward will definitely help out the future of these students and increase their ability to do more business and such oversees. However, while this is a great step forward, we are taking a step back when we are decreasing the amount of languages that are being offered. While I may not remember much of the Spanish that I took in high school, I think that it was important to learn at the time. Learning a language takes skill and uses different parts of the brain that I think was a great experience to have.
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First off, as an Asian American person, amongst my group of friends, I’m considered an “ABC,” an “American born Chinese.” My mom deeply regrets not teaching me Chinese from a young age because she went right back to work within a month or so of having me. I was taken care of by my grandmother, who is Argentinean, so needless to say I was learning Spanish and when at home, my mom was speaking to me in English. She regrets not speaking to me in Chinese because of how much China has become a superpower within the past 20 years. I, too, regret not learning it. She sent me to “Chinese School,” which was basically a class every Saturday learning Chinese, but I remember begging my mom to not send me there anymore. My biggest argument was: “How can I learn what anything means if they’re talking only in Chinese?? At least at my Argentina School, they told me what things meant in English (I was also enrolled in a Spanish speaking school for kindergarten.)!” my instructor, from what I remember, never once said what she was ranting on about in English. So, naturally, how was I supposed to know what the heck she was saying?
In my middle school, they brought the three “top” classes to the auditorium and basically had us choose which “side” to go to meaning which language to choose. I chose Spanish, like everyone else, because for me, it’d be an easy grade. But the teacher who was standing on the side for Italian gave me the puppy dog face that expressed “Please choose my side?” and so I went and learned Italian (and now I’m an Italian major!). Had they offered Chinese, I’m still not sure if I would’ve signed up for it.
I decided to learn Mandarin my sophomore year here, partly to make my mom proud of me, partly for my own benefit, and partly to be able to communicate with my relatives in Taiwan (it kind of sucks to be only able to say Hi, how are you, I’m good, okay you too, bye). I took it for two semesters and my general opinion is that Mandarin is a hard language to learn. It is definitely a language to be taught at a young age, making pronunciation, memorization, and understanding of the language a much easier process. Anyways, it became too much for me to keep up with.
Interesting that this topic came up because my mom was just in China and then visited our family in Taiwan for 2 weeks and sent me an email asking me if I basically wanted to go to Mandarin camp in Taiwan for a month OR participate in a program where you teach English, but you’re immersed in learning Mandarin. I turned both options with an easy “no.” I plan on referencing my textbooks if anything or buying Rosetta Stone. I understand how knowing Chinese is such a great asset in today’s business world. Even our dentist, who is Malaysian, makes a fuss to my mom and to myself each time we’re there insisting how “Erika should learn Chinese, yeah?” Yeah, I will buddy. The biggest thing that turns me off is the difficulty, my lack of time, and my strong focus on trying to find something at the moment that’ll be financially stable enough for me to support my failure self. Spanish has definitely come in handy. I feel that it’s a shame that more schools in America don’t enforce learning another language. While I was in Italy, I met so many people who knew so many other languages, meanwhile some students in my study abroad program could barely utter a phrase they had just learned. It’s pitiful. What else I think is pitiful is that these teachers were getting basically a stipend of $13,000 which I think is not enough to compensate for what they’re doing.
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As the world becomes more globalized, we are increasingly connected to people across the globe. To enhance effective communication and interaction with these people, it can be extremely beneficial to speak the same language. As Sam said in class, Americans tend to be very ethnocentric. We think English is the most important language and our beliefs and customs are widespread and superior to all others. Those who venture to distant lands will discover that this is not the case. Chinese, Mandarin is the most commonly spoken language in the world today. More and more people are also speaking Spanish. To interact in this world, it is imperative that people are able to speak a variety of languages. These are extremely valuable skills that can truly enhance your job application or interview. For these reasons I am a huge advocate for teaching second languages in elementary schools. Many underestimate the benefits of learning a different language. Schools often allocate less funding and time to the language departments. The other week I shadowed a teacher in a local elementary school. The school set aside a whopping 10 minutes at the end of the day for a language teacher to come in and try to teach the children. Not only was this not nearly enough time to learn more than a word, the students were barely paying attention. People truly under-estimate the power of learning a different language. Statistics show that students who study a different language perform better on exams, get into better colleges, etc. Results are paying off in the real world too and employers are definitely looking for applicants with these coveted skills. Additionally, studies show that the younger you are the easy it will be for you to pick up a language. At a younger age your mind is still developing and has the capacity to learn this new language. For this reason, schools should be implementing language into the curriculum early on. In the future it is very important that schools move in this direction. Traveling also offers endless possibilities for us. Going to another country and learning the customs, beliefs, ideas, and especially the language there has the power to teach us so much. The opportunity to experience a culture different from you own opens your mind to news concepts, ideas, and beliefs you never thought existed. Learning more about others, in turn helps you to learn more about yourself. Moreover, learning a different language really helps you to understand your own language more. For example, while studying Spanish, I have learned a lot about the English language. The acclaimed author Margaret Mead once said, “As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate lovingly, our own.” There are so many opportunities out there to travel, learn a different language, and essentially better yourself. Especially while we're here at college! So study abroad, learn a different language, travel. Cause you don't want to look back in 30 years and wish you had done more.
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Growing up in a small down in Pennsylvania when going into high school I had to choose between taking German and Spanish. Even though I am 100 percent German, I decided to take Spanish because I felt that it would be more beneficial. I struggled so bad ninth and tenth grade while learning Spanish. I had absolutely no interest in learning a forgien language which made it that much harder as well. If you asked me today, five years later I can tell you about three Spanish words so obviously it didn't help me at all in life. I feel taking a second language will really only help you if you use it frequently and stay on top of it.
If I wasn't a full time student taking 18 credits as well as working a part time job and had absolutely nothing else to worry about, I might consider learning a second language. But learning Chinese would most like never cross my mind. I feel learning Chinese would beA an extremely difficult language to learn. Due to the fact that they have different vowels, and don't have the same sounds as English. So it would just make it extremely difficult to learn. But then again if i had nothing on my plate and had all the free time in the world, I could focus on the language differences and put the effort into learning this unique language.
I would also not learn this language because of the Chinese population. I do not really plan on traveling after graduation, and residing in Pennsylvania somewhere. And after seeing the guest speaker last week and the demographic maps he presented to our class I would most definitely not learn Chinese. This gentleman showed a map of all the counties in Pennsylvania and most populated areas of Asians are Centre county and Pittsburgh. Centre county due to Penn State! And Pitt being because of the medical resources there. The way I feel now, I do not want to live in the State College area or Pittsburgh when I am older and raising a family so therefore learning this language seems a little out of the picture for me.
I am going to school for Speech Pathology and I am sure it would look absolutely incredible on my resume that I know Chinese. But really? Is all the practice and education and time put into learning this language really worth it just for a job that will always be in demand. Maybe if I was going to school for International business or something that I would actually be interacting with Chinese people it may be a little more useful.
I hope i am not sound like a debbie downer, I mean learning Chinese would be an awesome characteristic of an individual and would definitely part yourself from a numerous amount of individuals.
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I think exposing young students to foreign languages is an important aspect of any education. The United States lags behind other developed nations in establishing the mastery of a second language as an essential part of the curriculum. Granted, the second language taught in almost of these countries is English. But I still think it’s important if for no other reason than to instill in students the knowledge that there are other languages and cultures out there. I started taking Spanish in third grade, and I hated it for a long time. I continued taking it through high school, and by senior year I had taken a sincere interest in it. Right now I am working toward a minor in it and hope to study abroad in Spain during the spring semester of next year. I agree with Sam’s assessment that not teaching language in high school is probably not a big deal because most students (including myself) fail to master the language after four years of study. I don’t think the United States should half-ass their attempts at language programs. Either establish them from K through 12 or don’t include them at all.
I think it seems a little arrogant of the United States to not consider the mastery of a second language to be important. A student from South Korea lived on my floor freshman year who could speak English very well. Likewise, a student from China that I worked with this year spoke English fluently. Schools in other countries teach English because it is the dominant language in the world. It is the closest “universal” language we have in business, medicine, and academia. The reason for this is the global dominance of English-speaking countries for the past three hundred or so years. The failure of the United States to acknowledge the importance of mastering a second language seems to suggest that we expect to remain dominant on the global scale, at least for the foreseeable future. I do not doubt that we will do this. There has been a lot of press surrounding the emergence of China as a global power. The fact remains, though, that the United States is the lone remaining superpower, wielding enormous economic, political, and military power. While I think the growth of Mandarin will ultimately prove more legitimate, I think that the growth of Mandarin language programs in the United States mirrors the growing trend of Japanese language programs in the 1980s, as mentioned in the article. I can see why many countries might find the United States a little distasteful. When I tried seeing this issue “through another lens” as Laurie said in class, I realized I would probably be pretty pissed if I had to learn another language because some other nation dominated global affairs.
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I laughed when I saw this video. In the past few years, because of the popularity and necessity of Chinese language in the business world-or beyond, there have been numerous different Chinese language teaching programs. So it was no surprise that people would utilize Youtube for Chinese language education use. But what the article was addressing was surprising to me because I didn’t expect the rising of the Chinese language teaching programs in high schools to surpass Germany. When I was in high school, which was only 2 years ago, there was no Chinese language option, and my school was very competitive on the rankings for everything. So the speed of the growth is surprisingly fast. It does prove a point, that Sam has been right all along. With the economic downturn in the U.S. and the hard times in the job market, learning Madarin is really a good option to expand job opportunities in China.
Personally, I feel very lucky to be able to speak Mandarin and English fluently. However, I understand how difficult it is for someone whose native language is English to learn an Asian language. The pronunciation can get really difficult to be accurate pass a certain age. About the point of whether putting money in a Chinese language program in high school, I think it would be a good idea because Chinese takes longer to master. It is better to start learning Chinese early, because there are just so many parts to the language; just vocabulary (characters) alone, number more than 50,000. It takes time to build the vocabulary, just like how I had to memorize so many vocabulary words for the SATs critical reading section. I still couldn’t improve my score for a single point higher.
I feel sad with the schools not being able to fund different language programs. The different languages out there, especially the European languages of French, Germany, Italian, etc are such interesting and beautiful languages, and personally I took French for 4 years, can’t speak much at all, but I loved the entire process of learning about it. It’s sad to see that in reality, the economic outlook drives the funding for the language programs and since China’s economy is booming so the Chinese language program obviously gets funded and is increasing its numbers in high schools throughout the country. Sometimes it is so sad to see that below the good moral of importance of education, there are always issues with money and funding.
I also feel strongly that it is true that this is a good time to learn Mandarin so that there are more opportunities with job placement and the growing economy, but it also depends on the person’s interest. I personally believe we should study something that we have passion and interest for. For example in choosing majors; whether we can guarantee a stable job is a huge factor nowadays, but what about personal interest? I think if the person’s personality is obviously a better fit for a major that not necessarily has the best job placement; it actually may get the person farther than just forcing to stay in a major without interest and passion. So learn Mandarin if you really want to and are interested to
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I mean come on, isn’t it clear that the U.S. should be teaching foreign languages? You would have to be pretty close-minded to think we shouldn’t be teaching our children other languages. In addition to close-mindedness you probably haven’t spent very much time abroad if you think it isn’t useful to know multiple languages.
Shifting towards a bilingual population is another story. Foreign language programs cost money. With school funding decreasing, and school priorities focused on standardized tests, languages have become less important. But I do think there are valid reasons against add foreign language training in schools.
I agree with Sam that learning four years of a language isn’t going to make someone fluent, but it certainly gives students a head start. It is crazy to think that not all universities require students to take foreign language classes. I guess for people who never plan to leave the U.S. language training isn’t urgent, but the future will certainly bring more language diversity to this country. Shifts in power are also unpredictable, I mean let’s be serious – the world is speaking English because Europeans and the U.S. have the majority of international power, but that certainly doesn’t mean that power is everlasting.
For anyone who plans to have a career that will involve international interactions, language training is a must. I mean think about it, why wouldn’t a company higher a bilingual candidate over a candidate who only speaks English.
I too believe Mandarin is the way to go, China is a very powerful country, and speaking their language will become ever more important as time passes. To work in business, Mandarin would be a major advantage.
Ok, so sure we should all learn another language, I mean leave the U.S. and you probably are going to wish you could speak the language. But I think it is a lot easier said than done. Learning a language is not easy, especially without in country experience. Cultural submersion programs are great, and I think the majority of people who have learned foreign languages would attest that being submersed in a cultural, where all you’re doing is speaking that language, is a big help in developing conversation skills.
But let’s be serious, is it really feasible to send every kid who wants to become fluent in a language abroad? So in order to create bilingual citizens we will need to develop better language training programs. Too often language training is solely classroom based. In classroom only programs people do not retain the information. In order to really create people who can speak multiple or at least two languages more interactive programs need to be develop with opportunities for conversations.
If the U.S. wants maintain its place in the global economy and international community we need to be training our citizens, and language is the first start.
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That was SOOO cool! I wish I was able to learn Chinese in my high school. I think this would be an amazing step forward. Many students in high high school, and even younger grades are very excited to learn new languages, however, learning Chinese would definitely better students on a whole other level. I really thought how this teaching video was presented could be very revolutionary in languages in school. The video was fun, new and very educational. The thing is that many school are stuck with only teaching french, and Spanish. These are important languages to learn, but schooling needs to work with our global issues so that students are prepared for their futures. Many schools are stuck in a rut because their systems get students in and out of school, and it simply gives them the bare minimum. I also think students would be very interested in learning Chinese because it is so different from anything we have ever learned before. I want to be an art educator, so with this I will always be able to change what I want to teach and how I would like to teach, but many other classes must teach on a schedule, and they must teach given material. This is a reason why many schools do not think about new innovative classes. But, we need to think about our society and change some things about our education system. However, I never thought learning Chinese because of my field of interest, but it would really help many students work their way up in the business world. One thing about education that I have learned is that many students don't focus on what they are learning if they think they can't use the information in the future. This is what is going to be hard for me as an art teacher. Many students won't find it necessary, but that is my job to make it interesting and apply it to their life. This goes for language teachers as well. They need to make it apply to the students life so they know how important it really is. I think letting students know about how this could better them might get them more involved. I also think the fact that they are learning Chinese will spark their interest as well, because it is such an interesting language. I wonder how many years it will take schools to offer Chinese in their curriculum. I do not think it will be long, but by the time I have children I would really like them to have the opportunity to learn Chinese as their second language.
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I think that introducing Chinese into the schools is a great idea. The main reason I say this is because many things in our world are being produced over in China and a lot of the economy is coming from China as well. We will have to be working more closely then ever with Chinese producers because of the fact the a lot of our stuff is coming from over seas in Chinese speaking countries. I also agree with the fact that many of the languages we learn in high school we have no use for later on in life. I know that I hardly know any of the language I was taught through the four years I took it in high school. I feel the reason for this is because we have no real use for the languages we are being taught. I have never came across a situation where I have said to myself that I need to use what I was taught in my high school language while talking to someone. The only thing I worry about when we get rid of the other languages is the jobs of those teachers who have been teaching language in the schools for many years and that is the only thing they are really qualified to do. What do you say to them when you have to get rid of them to fund Chinese in the schools. They soon will not be able to go find a job because no one will want to hire a teacher they have no use for and that is only qualified to teach a language they are soon going to be phasing out for Chinese. I would be really upset if I were one of those teachers and lost my job over this. We are taking away jobs from good teachers who payed good money to go to school to teach a language and now were going to tell them that they no longer have a use in our school districts. I agree though that Chinese should be an option for students due to its increase importance in the world we are living in. It could help with deals made among people in the business world and help if you end up working with or for some one who speaks Chinese. One thing I worry about is that we may be getting away from worrying more about English and start giving too much importance to Chinese speaking. We first need to make sure that our kids are getting the needed teaching in English and understand that first before we go mixing them up with Chinese language. If we help our kids learn English first then I see no problem with teaching the Chinese as well but lets not forget the importance of teaching them English first.
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I think it’s great that foreign languages are being reintroduced into classes. Unfortunately they are not available everywhere. In this day and age, we can see how the world around us is slowly changing, specifically in the United States. The US Census Bureau predicts that by 2050 Caucasians will be the minority with Hispanics being the dominant race. The top 3 languages spoken are Chinese (mandarin), English, and Spanish. I think it’s a really good thing to have American students learning another culture so that they can understand how another culture lives. Learning a different language goes beyond just knowing how to say “Si, Senor” but should include being totally enriched in it. Just as Sam Richards said, most Americans who take a foreign language haven’t retained what they learned. I think we need to make sure students who are taking foreign languages continue to do so, and also for those who have continued with a foreign language for over 6-7 years, there should be a scholarship enabling them travel to a foreign-speaking country with all their expenses paid (a girl can dream, right?). An incentive like that would greatly boost the amount of students eager to learn and provide more jobs for foreign language teachers. It’s a win-win situation in my opinion. Even though those are the top 3 languages spoken, I think we should allow more options for students interested in learning other languages. I know when I was in school, I started learning Spanish when I was in the first grade and that continued until I entered high school and switched to French. Spanish was the only option they offered, and while I appreciated learning the language and the culture, I come from a French-speaking family. I can speak French but I wanted to be able to read and write in it as well. Taking those classes in high school and then continuing in college helped me grasp my family’s native language and I’m really glad the option was there in high school. To keep up with the changing times and ways of our world, we definitely have to continue to provide students with the opportunity to learn a language that will help them succeed in the future. By doing so, we will enhance the quality of our future businessmen/women and possibly have a deeper understanding of different cultures so that we may effectively communicate with them.
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This is pretty interesting! Personally, if Mandarin were being offered in high school, I would definitely opt out of taking it and stick to French. But that’s just me thinking how difficult it seems after watching this YouTube video. Honestly, he dumbed down a simple sentence to the easiest level and I still have no idea how to say “the weather is good today.” Marketwise, I can see how Mandarin can be important, as the Chinese market is a huge factor in business and global companies, so it’s kind of like a recognition of the power they hold. But honestly, I can only think that knowing Mandarin will be helpful only with helping a college grad get a job. It looks impressive, but realistically, are they really going to translate Mandarin enough times so that it’s relevant in the work force?
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This is a really interesting topic, and is something that I can definitely relate to. When I was in 7th grade it was time to choose which language we were going to take in middle school and high school. The only two languages that my school district offered were French and Spanish. I wanted to do Spanish, but not because I thought it was practical, only because all my friends were doing it. However, I was on my family vacation on the day that everyone chose and when I got back to school Spanish was filled and I got stuck in French. I took three years of French in middle school and high school, and I hated it, but I always got A’s. When I came to Penn State and found out I had to take three year of a language I decided just to take French since I would already sort of know it. Again, I wasn’t thinking practically at all. I ended up really liking French in college and decided to minor in it. However, last semester, the beginning of my junior year, I realized that I really wasn’t intending to do anything with my French minor, ever. I don’t want to live in France, or Canada for that matter, and French isn’t widely spoken in the United States. At the very most I might visit France, but it would probably only be for a week on a vacation. So I dropped the minor, because I really saw no purpose. However, several of my friends are business majors with minors in Spanish, which does make sense. With the growing number of Spanish speaking people in American, it really makes sense that as a businessperson you should be able to communicate with them. However, I am really big on making the point that immigrants should learn English. I am not against immigration, if someone can come to America from Mexico and make a better life for himself then that is great. However, I think that immigrants should learn English. If I were to decide to move to Spain, I would learn Spanish. I would not move to Spain expecting them to speak English, and I do not think that Spanish-speaking immigrants should expect Americans to speak Spanish. I definitely can see the relevance of learning Chinese as well. As our country does more and more business with China, it makes even more sense for college graduates to speak Chinese. I thought it was interesting that China is paying for Chinese people to come to America. I think that this is because the Chinese government wants to encourage America to do even more business with their country. Providing teachers to teach Americans to speak Chinese is a great way to do this. If a lot of Americans speak Chinese, it will be easier for them to do more business with China. However, I am against this as well. I think it’s really important to keep businesses and keep jobs in the United States and while doing some business with China is fine I think that doing too much business with China could be detrimental to the American economy.
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Personally, I think learning a second language is great. I am currently working on a Spanish minor, and last semester I was going to take Chinese 1, but eventually decided not to. I wish that I could have had the opportunity to learn Chinese when I was in elementary/high school. I think that most people from the United States feel as though everyone else in the world should learn English if they want to be able to communicate with the majority of us here, but I feel as though we too should take a part in learning another language to make their lives a little easier too. Chinese and Spanish to me are the two most important languages to learn as a citizen of the United States. However, I think it is sad that so many other foreign languages are being taken out of school curriculum across the United States. Learning another language apart from English, Spanish, and Chinese is also important because we need to be able to communicate with all of the countries across the globe.
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I hate to say this, but it is pretty ignorant how lacking we are in knowledge of other languages. It is like we don’t need to know any others, because the one we speak is what everyone else should. I think languages should be taught to children as soon as they learn to talk. That’s when it’s easiest and most fun. I don’t know anyone who took a language in high school and managed to speak it fluently. Offering Chinese is also a great step. I hope kids take advantage of this because it truly is a one way ticket to a full-time job.
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As a Chinese, I am really happy. Many people in American interested learning my language. This is amazing. I strongly support everyone to learn a second language, if they have the opportunity and there are good teachers to help them learn. To tell the truth, it is not easy to learn another language. From my own experience, it is not fun to learn and try to be professional in English. The reason is it’s so different and difficult. The grammar, the pronunciation, the words, not only you need to memorize them, but also you have to use them as a way to communicate with others. I start to learn English in my primary school, began with letters A, B, C… It’s the same writing as in Pinyin, but the pronunciations are totally different. I kept learning English, until I finally could study abroad— go to study in America. However, I realized a crucial fact when I first step into this new country. I felt I was not English at all!! No real English, I cannot listen, speak, cannot communicate, because people around me were speaking so fact. I cannot catch up their words, and felt extremely scared and lonely. I think only people who traveled to another country which native people speak a different kind of language can understand what I am talking about. Language is not like a science subject, if you understand you get it and everybody in the same field understand what are you “talking about”. For example, Americans can read math book in Chinese, not because they understand the language, but because they know the equations, figures and logic. This is not the case in language, I felt I am so foolish because I cannot understand others even simple things.
The key to learn another language is the environment, I learned almost all my English here—U.S. The reason is everybody around me speak English, so the whole environment force me to speak, to practice. After sometime, I found my English improved a lot. So, if government or education department want to supply courses about learning a foreign language, the important thing is to set up an environment, such as no English, only Chinese. Not teach Chinese as a subject, but as a communication tool, we need to practice speaking, listening, reading and writing, not only in the exam, instead it should be apply to daily life, if students really want to good at the second language.
I was a Chinese teacher in a club called CSL, which stands for Chinese as a second language. I taught Americans Chinese there, it was a great experience, and some of my students could speak Chinese very well, and I was so amazed by that, because I know how hard is to learn another language.
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Contrary to what I'm seeing a lot of people comment on this blog, I think that learning world languages is a very important part of education. To those who say they took numerous years and learned nothing, maybe you need to step back and look at your situation. Maybe your school didn't have a good language program, or maybe you didn't fully apply yourself because you never thought you'd ever have to actually use it. I took 6 years of French, and by immersing myself in it and actively trying to learn the language, I became nearly fluent. I travelled to France once on a tour and once on an exchange and was able to communicate just fine with the locals both times. And I'm not the only one with a story like this. If you really are interested in learning and put your mind to it, you truly can lean the language. And it goes both ways. My father came to America from Sicily at the age of 17 not knowing a word of our language, but by sheer will, hard work, and determination learned English perfectly and is now one of the most eloquent speakers that I know. So for those who say that learning a language other than your own is useless, what do you say to that? Would it have been better for my father to not bother to learn English? If he hadn't, how would he have pursued his dreams and gotten to where he is today? Sometimes it really is worth the effort to rev up our brains, step out of our complacent mindsets, and actually try something different.
So for that reason I really think it's great that schools are starting to push students to learn Chinese. For so long the "big three" languages have been French, Spanish, and German. Of those three, I'd say Spanish is the most pertinent to today's society. But if my school had offered Chinese, I know so many people that would have taken it. I myself being one of them. For those who have responded to this blog by saying that no one should have to learn Chinese because English is the language of the world, I'd like to just ask you to take a step back and acknowledge your own ethnocentrism here. While English is such a major language, what would it hurt, other than your pride, to consider that maybe learning someone else's language could be beneficial? What could it hurt to consider that maybe someone else in the world other than Americans have something significant to bring to the table? I can't even tell you how much it aggravates me when people get so stuck in the idea that "we're Americans so we don't have to change what we do. Everyone else needs to conform to our standards." When are we going to wake up and for once see something bigger than ourselves and our foolish pride?
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I feel as though I have an interesting perspective on this, having learned a smattering of both Mandarin and Cantonese for the role of "Ching Ho" in Thoroughly Modern Millie last summer. Neither of those are actually too difficult to get a handle on, provided you put in ample time to learn them and work with them. Chinese is definitely not one of the languages I think of when thinking about languages taught at a high school level, so I think teaching them in a high school is a terrific idea. I would definitely agree that Mandarin and Spanish will eventually be the most popular languages of the business world.
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Obviously, I think that English is used the most in business transactions, but I think learning mandarin would be a wonderful language to know in the economic marketplace. My personal feelings are that adding it as a language to choose from in high school isn’t the best option. I’m friends with a family in Germany, where they learn English at an extremely young age, and they are all pretty much fluent in English. This is not the case when we start in middle school or high school to learn a language. If we really want to be fluent in a language, our education system needs to focus on it much earlier than middle school or high school.
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To me this seems like a great idea. It’s time American public schools realize the value of learning a language such as Chinese or Spanish or Arabic. If you are going to drop languages, get rid of the traditional languages that do not have too much power outside of their respective countries like Italian, French, German, etc. Our public school system is slowly failing and this is a good way to turn this around, to catch up with what other countries are doing and to catch up with the economical and social phenomena of the last quarter century. It is no secret that in the near future the Chinese economy and perhaps later the India economy will rival that of the United States. Chinese corporations will be all over the globe and some of the leading employers out there. And while English continues to look like it will be universal language of the future, the Chinese language may rival it. It is also thought that in say a hundred years ago, there will be a universal ubiquitous language which will be mostly a combination of English and Chinese, as weird as that sounds. As American schools get farther and farther behind other advanced countries in the areas of math and science we should make sure that we do not fall behind here. Our children should be provided with the tools to compete in a global marketplace. At first when I was told this in high school I did not see the value of it. But after years of interviewing for jobs and getting very positive responses from Spanish minor I see the value companies place on these language skills. I know numerous students who are majoring in Security & Risk Analysis within the College of Information Sciences & Technology and many of them have taken Arabic as a minor to make them much more desirable to agencies like the FBI, CIA or NSA. For some of the positions they are applying to it is almost necessary to have this skill. One of the issues with teaching languages in high school and even college is that it seems that the students do not get to the level you would expect them to or struggle to remain there. I can personally say that I have this issue. After four years of Spanish in college I do not feel totally comfortable using Spanish in real-world situations. I think you have to immerse yourself in a community where Spanish or Chinese or whatever is the first language to truly learn it. However, I think having these classes in high school gets kids into it and can show them the value of it at a young age. This can be the base for an education later in life.
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I think it’s a great thing that mandarin is on the rise. We are starting to live in a world where everything doesn’t revolve around us Americans. To understand what is going on in the business world, and to be a well rounded, marketable, versatile person, you have to be able to communicate with the ones in power. And in the very near future, that will be China.
In high school, I would have loved the option to take mandarin! My school was a small performing arts and accelerated school. Despite or fantastic academics, we didn’t excel in language. In fact, all we had were Spanish and French. I would have loved the option to take Italian or German or Latin, but it simply wasn’t offered at my school. Mandarin I would have had to take a second look at, but I would have maybe given it a shot.
One of the reasons I decided to go with Spanish was because I lived in Texas. The majority of Houstonians are Hispanic. It’s like that for all of Texas for the most part. In the US, it’s beneficial to have Spanish under your belt because that’s what we are made out of, and that’s what is close to us. Granted, in Europe, French is a much better language to learn because more people speak it. I am happy with my mediocre knowledge of the Spanish language because I know I can, staying in the US, have a huge benefit from it.
What’s also really surprising is that the Chinese government pays for teachers to come, which is great. I find it surprising that no one has really noticed how we are giving other teachers less spots for teaching and less benefits. A few years ago (and still to this day) we are crying and complaining about immigrants taking the jobs no one wants to do from hard working Americans. Will this happen again if we send a lot of teachers over from China. I’m curious.
The NY Times article says “America has had the study of a foreign language grow before, only to see the bubble burst. Many schools began teaching Japanese in the 1980s, after Japan emerged as an economic rival. But thousands have dropped the language, the survey found.” I feel that a lot of other people will argue that this will happen all over again. So what that China is booming, it doesn’t matter. I on the other hand think and believe that china will soon be in more power then we think and all of a sudden, English will not be such a demanding language anymore. My grandmother used to always say that we Americans are spoiled. We have visitors from other countries come over and we expect them to speak English. We go to foreign countries and we expect them to know English. Maybe mandarin will be the new standard.
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The rise of Chinese (Mandarin) in high schools is no surprise to me. This doesn’t just exist in high schools; it’s affecting the entirety of school systems. My sister has three children, one who’s in elementary school. She told me they’re offering Chinese language classes on the elementary school level, which really astonishes me to see how our culture has evolved in ten years.
As an Asian-American, this definitely affects me in multiple ways. I’ve always been accustomed with Spanish-speaking natives teaching Spanish language classes; French natives teaching French; real Germans teaching German, so on and so forth. When I read the article and saw the picture of a White woman teaching Chinese to her students, I was pretty amazed to see how far the American culture has come to the education of other languages. When I took Spanish in high school, I called my teachers, whom were somehow all female, “señora” or “señorita,” followed by their last name. To me, it made sense and felt right, especially with their genuine, Hispanic or Latino last names. It’ll be really difficult for me to imagine that in a Chinese language classroom setting with a non-Chinese native, or even a non-Chinese American for that matter. Can I envision students calling their teachers “Schwartz Lao Shi” (Lao Shi means teacher in Chinese) or “Richards Lao Shi”? To set the record straight, I’m not saying that this is a bad thing or something I oppose; rather, from an Asian-American (specifically a Chinese-American) perspective, the transition to plausibly having Chinese, not Spanish, the most dominant foreign language taught in a classroom setting with the aforementioned scenario seems rather odd to me.
I’m grateful to be a Chinese-American born and raised in the United States under the care and guidance of native Chinese; being able to know and speak Chinese (for my case, Cantonese) in America has been a huge plus for me in social interactions with first generation Chinese densely populated in certain pockets of New York, where my roots lie. It’s very, very interesting to see how more Americans are curious and desiring to know this foreign language and culture. Last night, dinner at East Halls featured Asian Night. I thought of this class right away when I entered through the doors of the dining commons; seeing different stations of various Asian foods with your typical servers behind the food wearing Asian teepee-looking hats that are totally fake and plastic, being dumbfounded by the poor attempts of Chinese calligraphy on huge colorful banners, and hearing Asian-sounding music through a jukebox (probably played by one of those Chinese harps) rocked my view on how Americans view the Asian culture. I could’ve been easily offended, but I’ll give them an A for effort.
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When I saw the topic that this post was concentrating on, I was excited. For some time now, I have had this itch to learn Chinese – I'm not really sure why I suddenly want(ed) to learn the language, but I think the desire came from a few of my experiences as well as things I have heard. A few years back, I remember hearing at a family party that my mom's cousin's son (or a relative like that, who I do not really know personally) had studied business and Chinese in college and was moving to China to take a really high-profile job over there. I was fascinated and I really thought that it was the coolest thing – to learn a language so well, especially one that seems to be "up and coming" in the business world – that you can work in the industry and thrive. That was my first taste of someone really investing in Chinese as a foreign language enough so that he could make a career of it, and my interest from that point on only grew. I think I've always been incredibly interested in international affairs, foreign study, and foreign languages. I am absolutely amazed and in awe of the world around me, and of the many different "worlds" that exist outside of our own little bubble (and by "bubble", I mean the Penn State bubble, the east coast bubble, the America bubble, etc. – however you want to think of it, but I think you should know what I mean). I have also taken Italian for years and have been enamored with the language, the people, and the country (and all the beautiful, amazing sites it has to offer) for years. I took Italian all throughout high school and then again here at Penn State – Italian is one of my minors. In addition to that, I studied abroad in Italy last year, which further makes me a pro-learning other languages and pro-learning about other countries/ethnicities/ways of life, which ties into this post about learning Chinese. And I think what makes Chinese even more powerful as a language tool is the emergence of it as a world language, and its usage in the professional and business arenas, which, aside from the fact that we should learn more about different parts of the world, can also be useful in future careers and/or positions. I know someone who taught English in China post-undergrad and came back with a great appreciation and understanding of the language and the people, something, really, that I think would benefit all people, especially all those who tend to get stuck in the mentality that their world (one person's world) is the actual world. I have even given a lot of thought to teaching abroad myself after my undergraduate education is over. After being abroad, I have the travel bug and I honestly have a great desire to just GO…and by that I mean, go everywhere – travel all over the USA, but also all over the world. I think Chinese people coming here to teach their language here is a wonderful thing because it gives a first-hand perspective and a vision of the world through the voice of another (as well as through the eyes of another). It reminds me of the ethnocentrism that Sam has been talking about the past few classes. There is so much more out there, and those who are really LIVING, I think, make the effort to see what else is out there to really expand their knowledge. Thus, I think the fact that more schools are offering Chinese to children starting from an early age is a really good idea, and one that, frankly, I wish my grade school and high school had offered as well. I have even read studies and credible articles that show proof that teaching young children an additional language helps them in the future in related lessons, such as vocabulary. Thus, I think teaching Chinese on a larger scale in the United States should prove to be beneficial in many different ways.
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I’ve always been a huge proponent of teaching foreign languages in schools. The world today is rapidly evolving into a state of globalization, where contact between all nations is instantaneous and a daily part of life. With obvious language barriers looming, there becomes an importance in being fluent in at least one foreign language. Learning a foreign language truly opens up new opportunities for people, ranging from exciting careers and connections to travel and vacationing benefits. Learning a foreign language also helps people learn by proxy about other cultures from around the world, which in turn helps to reduce the ethnocentric attitudes people sometimes develop. In my opinion, the benefits of learning a foreign language cannot be overstated.
With all that in mind, I thought that the New York Times article was pretty distressing news. The article notes that over the past decade, thousands of American foreign language programs in schools across the country have been cut from the budget. In a time where the world is getting smaller and smaller, news of this nature can’t bode well for the United States. Getting caught behind the rest of the world in the capacity to speak foreign languages is not what a world power allows to happen. But with this sobering news, it could provide us all a microcosm of the decline of America’s influence on the world. A rebound is necessary in order for the decline to level out.
The second topic the article discusses is the silver lining in their analysis of foreign language programs in the United States; the number of Chinese programs in schools is rapidly growing. This has been accomplished by the Chinese government partially paying the salaries to teachers that travel to the United States and teach Chinese at schools there. In an education system that seems to always be strapped for cash, having the Chinese government help pick up the salary for Chinese teachers makes them more inclined to hire them. No other nations provide this kind of service, so other foreign language programs are losing numbers while the Chinese departments have been steadily growing. The results of this program are already showing results; it has been estimated that about sixteen hundred schools now have the capacity to teach Chinese.
In my opinion, the article presents a bittersweet view on the state of foreign language programs in private and public schools in the United States. On one hand, having so many programs shut down due to a lack of money is distressing to hear. On the other hand, it’s nice to see that the Chinese government is able to help fund these programs for schools in the United States. It is my hope that in the future more governments will follow suit.
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I personally think that learning Mandarin is very beneficial especially in finding a future job. The economy turns to China for many things and knowing the language can only improve your chances of moving up the ladder of success. My cousin is fluent in Japanese and obtained a business degree from NYU and basically had his choice of jobs just for being able to communicate in that foreign language. I feel that knowing Mandarin enough to communicate will make finding a job easy.
I am happy to see that more high schools are implementing a wider language selection for students to chose from. In 7th grade we had to take this class that introduced us to French, Spanish, German, and Latin, which were the options available at my High School. By dabbling in each, students got a feel for what each language was like, however, the choices were limited to only those 4. Most people decided on either Latin or Spanish and for the next 4 years, we would learn everything we possibly could and were given the choice to take advance classes or stay in standard ones. I, like many other people, chose to learn Spanish and developed a good understanding of the language. I would try and get into the easier classes just to get by and score the A. As I moved on to college, I stuck with Spanish and just like in high school, I managed to get by. Yes, I was able to apply some of my Spanish skills abroad while visiting Spain, but even with the 7 years that I was enrolled in Spanish classes, I still fell that I will never fully use the language to my benefit and I knew this the whole time I was taking these classes and never cared to fully apply myself.
Although I know that learning Mandarin would be a lot more difficult than learning Spanish, I feel that if I knew that the language would help me out in my professional career, I would be more inclined to learn. China is so highly populated and plays a huge part in so many jobs that it would make communication so much easier if American high school students started learning at a younger age. I feel that it is such a useful tool to know any language, but Mandarin specifically would just make you stand out in a crowd.
This article was very intriguing, and I was happy to learn that Mandarin is becoming a popular language to learn even though it is rather intimidating. I know many young adults chose to learn Spanish because it is easier to grasp and most think it is a useful tool for communicating with foreign parties, but the new direction in language is definitely moving towards Mandarin.
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After reading this article, I’m glad that more and more schools are implementing Chinese into their schedules. Unfortunately, in my high school Chinese was not offered. Spanish, German, Italian, and French were the languages available. I decided to take Spanish all four years–which I think was a smart decision. I have come in contact with many Spanish speakers here at school and even back home. However, at my school, Spanish was the easy language to take. What was surprising was that our Spanish department had the worst teachers and in my four years of taking Spanish, I barely learned as much as the German or French students. Our German and French teachers were great, and their students learned so much during high school. It’s unfortunate that these teachers might be losing their jobs because their languages aren’t as popular anymore. The AP test in Chinese is even being taken more often than the AP exam in German. I think that is amazing, and the fact that it has only happened in a short period of time is even crazier.
With that said, if we are going to be introducing Chinese into our school systems, I would hope that the instructors would be on par. I think sending “guest teachers” over here is a great idea. However, some people don’t have the skills to teach, and I’m hoping that they select these 325 volunteer in a strategic manner. It truly is an amazing opportunity for them. A Chinese guest teacher is making $49,910 in salary in addition the $13,000 in travel expenses he receives from Hanban. In my opinion, these “Guest teachers” are making out better than actual teachers here in America.
With the No Child Left Behind Act, I am very surprised that Chinese is making it into the schools at such a quick rate. I know that there is an Elementary School near my hometown that teaches their KINDERGARTEN class in Chinese some days. I’m definitely shocked at how early they are incorporating the language into learning, but I think it’s great. Kids are like sponges. The younger they are when taught something, the better likelihood that they will soak up the information and remember it.
Now knowing that China is becoming such a strong force and has much power, I believe it’s essential that every school introduce Chinese and make it mandatory for students to take. If I were in high school now, I would definitely have the desire to learn Chinese. I’m even thinking about teaching myself over the summer. I frequently go to this little Chinese restaurant in my hometown, and it would be exciting to see if I could put my newfound language to the test.
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First of all, I was very interested to learn that this kind of a change is occurring in our public elementary schools and high schools at this rate. For the percentage of schools that offer Chinese to jump from one percent to four percent is pretty staggering. I guess this makes sense though now that China has emerged as our global competitor and our global trade partner. Of course, it makes sense that the rate of Chinese language being taught has increased. Along with the current state of global economics, China is funding these teachers to come from China to the United States. The public schools, who always, seem to be strapped for cash probably, love this incentive. Why not take advantage of something that is given to you for free? Along with free teachers we also have to look at our society. Parents are pushing their kids into education at younger and younger ages. They even have programs that teach babies how to identify words. Kids are being trained to become the next generation of business leaders.
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Whether this means that they are taking business related courses or learning Mandarin, they are being crafted. I am not surprised that many of these people who want their kids to overachieve are pushing them towards this kind of a language. I have heard, although I really do not know that Mandarin is among one of the most challenging languages to learn as a non-native speaker, so then it only makes sense that children try to learn this at a young age. I just worry that it may be possible that the same thing that happened in Japan in the eighties might happen to China sometime in the future, and then who knows maybe the kid who learned Mandarin would have been far better off if he took a more traditional language like Spanish. I guess when it comes down to it, learning any second language is a really good thing.
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I can speak for myself because I have been taking German, a language that has been getting taken away in schools, since high school, and I have not regretted making that decision in any way at all. Taking a language that may seem odd to others is a very rewarding experience. German exposed me to the culture, customs, and people of Germany. This is definitely something I may have overlooked if I had taken a different language. I am sure this is the same for Mandarin. Taking another language is a rewarding experience any way you look at it. Whether it be German, Mandarin, or Spanish, a language is a tool that can only help, and if the popular language to take these days is Mandarin then that’s alright.
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Whether or not they stick, programs such as these are almost always worth at least giving a shot. If in a few years Chinese is not a relatively important language to know there’s really no downside to those students who learned it years ago. This is especially true because China is sending teachers at very low cost to American schools to teach our students. So not only are the schools getting another teacher for their staff at a very low cost, but they are getting some of the best teachers possible for the subject. Having a native speaking language teacher can be very helpful for the students learning of the language. Not only will they have a nearly perfect accent, but they know phrases and sayings which will helps students to speak a more natural form of the language. Just like English, Chinese I’m sure has special exceptions to rules and uncountable slang terms.
It’s sometimes funny to hear none native English speakers try to make their point just as I’m sure I would sound funny if I ever go to Spain trying to speak what little Spanish I’ve retained. There are many words I learned which are simply not used by native speakers and have been replaced by other slang terms. With a native speaking teacher it would be easier to ignore these words and expressions taught in the book which are rarely used in actual practice. Knowing these sayings will not only help the students to speak the language, but also to understand others.
The deal truly is too good to pass up. Any qualified teacher at such a low cost would certainly be beneficial to any school, but to bring in such an expert in the language at the same low cost is like a goldmine. I hope that in the next couple decades we realize that all this Chinese education was well worth this effort, but like I said earlier worst comes to worst more of our population will have a small understanding of the Chinese language. The only downside to teaching students Chinese is that they will not be able to learn a different language in school, unless they really want to, but there is no way to predict which language will be most prevalent in the next few decades.
Personally I am very happy that I learned as much Spanish that I have, and would rather know Spanish than Chinese, but giving students the both options is very important. For those who wish to pursue some kind of business career, knowing Chinese may prove to be very helpful for them in the future. For others who wish to travel around Central America, live in Spain, of simply live in a predominately Spanish area, Spanish is the obvious choice. In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter what language a student learns as long as they learn a language.
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This article is very eye opening and surprising to me. It really takes me back that Chinese and Mandarin are making such an outbreak in the United States. I understand that China is an upcoming country and that it is quickly emerging in the business world, but I did not expect this increase to effect grade schools and even kindergarten to be reacting to its emergence. I think it is great that people are trying to adapt to change and that they are making a conscience effort to be able to adjust to any curve ball that the world can give us. It is very important for a person who is learning a second language, to learn it while they are very young. This education will increase their ability to adapt to the language quickly and be able to pick up on not only just the language but even the slang or the culture behind the language. Children will be not only pick up on a language easier but it will give them more leeway to become completely fluent very young and open up many doors for them. This is just what the school systems are trying to do and I appreciate the efforts and strives they are taking. It was also very surprising that not only are Chinese language classes increasing on the East and West coasts but in the heartland states. This is surprising because the heartland states are slower to adapt to change and are usually more behind in updating their culture.
On the other hand I am a little troubled by this article. I feel as if this emergence continues, America as a country will begin to start losing power in the world. If people in America are adapting to change so quickly, I would hope that other countries are transitioning their culture to adapt to our changes. Although these changes in other countries are already happening with an increase in English classes in other countries, I do not want Americans to believe that they need to adapt to other countries to keep their power in the world. If we keep shipping over teachers from China to teach America students, this is taking away jobs from hard working Americans. Why isn’t it possible that Americans can’t go about teaching American students Chinese? I am not against Chinese immigration or helping other countries find jobs but I feel as if Americans need to remember that they do not need to rely on other countries to be able to keep their power in the world. All in all, I am glad to see that students are becoming more highly educated and becoming more aware of the changing world.
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I think that learning any language other than English is always a good idea. The world is becoming very diverse and more and more people are migrating to the United States. There are many people who speak Chinese and Spanish and even learning a little bit of the language is very beneficial. In the job world today, most employers are going to hire those employees who are bilingual. My high school offered Mandarin, Spanish, Latin, German, and Japanese. We were required to take a minimum of 2 years if we decided to take an alternate language. I would definitely encourage the learning of alternate languages.
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China is surfacing as one of the nations super powers and I think teaching the language is a good idea. By teaching Chinese, schools will help people become bilingual to another language, which is going to have major effects on the upcoming economy and the world, but also helps people understand the culture of the Chinese. When I was in high school we had three languages: Spanish, French, and German. Spanish had the most kids taking the classes, while French was second and German third. I saw it interesting how in the New York Times article it talked about how schools were beginning to wane out German. I noticed this in high school as the numbers in German decreased year after year but I thought it was just our school. I think Chinese in today’s society could be much more utilized then German.
I was a French student and enjoyed taking the class and learning the culture. Many people perceive language classes as only learning the language day after day. I would disagree because I learned so much about the French way of life, what they eat, how they talk, the cities and land forms, and more. I think it is such a good idea for other schools to implement Chinese into their curriculums, so that students will not only learn another language but also learn more about a different culture from their own. I was fortunate enough to travel to France with my class for 10 days and it was the best time of my life. I can imagine going to China would be equally as exciting. My high school superintendent was recently over in China because my school is apparently looking into the new language as well. My friend Molly is the daughter of the superintendent and she got to go along on the trip. She said it was a great time and described how awesome the culture was. I am sure many other people would have the same enthusiasm given the chance.
The other thing I found extremely interesting was how the Chinese government is paying teachers to come over to the United States to teach. I know that the school pays something to the teachers who are coming over, but for a government to pay their own people to go across seas just to teach the language is a huge step. I think that China sees that it is evolving to a big power and is willing to compensate their own people to travel to teach about their language and culture. I am very intrigued to see where this all goes over the next several years and if Chinese will overtake French and ultimately Spanish one day in the classroom.
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I’d like to start off by stating that I do think the idea of teaching Mandarin (which is, I’m assuming, the most universally used dialect in China. I know that there’s more than just Mandarin.) in schools in the United States. It makes a ton of sense to learn the language of the next economic powerhouse, especially if one wishes to remain viable in the market and is looking for every opportunity to move up in the business world. It would also seem that the U.S. is going to be doing business with the Chinese for years to come, so we’re going to need people who are bilingual to be able to facilitate these deals. This is especially prevalent because of the sheer amount of national debt that our country owes to the Chinese. What I wonder is if we’re making the same effort; are we putting American teachers in China so that they learn English? Do we have to? I seem to remember reading somewhere that most schools in China have had an English program in place for years, but then again, I could be wrong. If that were true, however, it would seem that they have a leg up on us as far as this issue goes. Although, that would make sense because, as far as I know, English is spoken much more universally than Mandarin is.
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It’s humbling to see this shift in approach of our country’s attitude towards other countries. People in other countries probably think America is ignorant in learning about other cultures. But it appears that finally the nation as a whole has understood the importance of learning other languages and developing that education for our youth. Learning Spanish is important in a domestic sense, in that the language is rapidly developing in America, but learning Chinese is crucial in an international relations sense. Becoming well-versed in Chinese will create a tremendous amount of opportunities for our country’s youth as they grown into world leaders, sharing a future with their adversaries in other countries.
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I am not surprised that Mandarin classes are increasing while language classes for French and German are dwindling. It is extremely important, as Sam said, to be successful in a business career and not be familiar with Mandarin or some Chinese dialect. I think that schools have realized how important this is and along with the help from the Chinese government to subsidize the teacher’s salaries, it is too good of an offer. With the decline in jobs available and the growing labor force, in order to even get a job you have to be extremely qualified, maybe even over qualified and have an excellent academic background. It only makes sense that there would be more programs offering this language.
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In my opinion, learning another language is always a good thing to do. No matter if you are going to use it or not. The process of learning a language helps you understand the culture and customs in that country, which helps you understanding the world on someone else' shoes. This is very beneficial. Actually I am on my way learning my third language Japanese. I found it really helps me understand something I didn't even think about before learning the language. And learning language always makes me feel happy. So start to learn Chinese guys– no matter it's for a practical reason or not. Chinese market place is becoming more and more important to the world.
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I honestly think that learning a language when there’s no desperate need to learn one is purposeless. I had to choose between taking either German or Spanish, and I choose Spanish. I learned Spanish for five years thinking that I might use it in my real life day to day activities or one day in a job type of environment talking to others. Having Spanish taught to us everyday made memory of using the language easier to learn and remember. After I graduated high school, I never heard a single person come to me speaking in Spanish, so more than likely I have forgotten more than half of what I was taught. Ironically, I live with a girl who is from Chile, who speaks Spanish fluently. She asked me the other day if remembered to speak and if we could converse in Spanish knowing my past knowledge. I was out of words to reply back. Because of the time period of not using my Spanish skills, I have forgotten so much. She was amazed at me, and kept repeating how I learned a certain language for so many years and yet I don’t remember much of what is said. She even asked me why I even chose to learn Spanish, if I wasn’t even going to use it ever.
I feel like learning a language comes in handy when you really need to utilize it. Whether it be going to a new country with new culture, or developing interpersonal relationships at work. The frequency of the use of language helps to be able to jog back to memory and remember is being conversed. I also agree to the fact that since we live in a primarily based language spoken English world, that we should base more attention on to learning the common language that people use at work, or at school. English is be more justified in classes and taught in a way that people should embrace learning about this common language
I agree with Sam though that learning a new language like Mandarin or Spanish is probably more helpful than learning Korean or Hindi. The use of Spanish is definitely a lot more on this side of the world to even learn for. Even though more than half the time, people forget what they learn, some take away from learning a language. I think it is funny to see the increase number of this language, however there is a decrease in foreign language classes in high schools.
Even outside of class, people are learning languages completely through technology based software, and different types of methods. I think its remarkable to see people watching youtube and learning from someone who has videotaped themselves to teach others their language.
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I think that learning mandarin would be very beneficial to our generation and those that are going to be preceding us. China is going to be taking over our technology and products even more as time goes on and it will be important for us to have that connection. When I was younger I lived in Hong Kong for 5 years. While I was in my international school one of the classes that they taught us along with art and English was mandarin. When I was learning I became practically fluent at the age of five. If we could possibly start to teach children different languages when they are much younger then they will most likely grasp more. When we moved back to the states I basically lost all of what I had learned because my parents didn’t speak it and no one in my new school in Lancaster PA knew how to speak it which was not all that surprising.
My brother is now continuing his mandarin courses at Penn State and I am jealous of him in that he is able to learn the language that I lost. He is going to shangai this summer to study abroad and he is so excited but mainly he is excited to really get the language down by being immersed in the area and actually grasping the core of speaking it. I think that the only true way to grasp a language well is to go to the country that it originates from and be around it and be forced to speak it at all times. I took French in high school and my teacher always worked very hard to make sure that we were only speaking French the second we set foot in his class room. This became very frustrating to me because I am not very skilled at the language but I think it did help in the long run. The older you get, I think the harder it becomes to learn a new language especially since you have been speaking the same one for so many years. I am lucky in that my major doesn’t require me to speak a language otherwise I would be having some serious issues when it comes to my classes and truthfully I don’t enjoy learning new languages as other people might.
Overall I think it is a great idea to start figuring out languages and learning them at younger ages and I think it is also great to start giving kids more option at a younger age instead of having them choose from three languages such as French German and Spanish, which was all that my high school happened to offer to us.
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Mandarin seems like such a hard language to learn. I do agree with Sam when he says that it would be beneficial to know in the future. Not many school offer it though, especially high schools. In my high school we only had the option of taking Spanish, French, and Latin. Adding Mandarin to the curriculum would totally be beneficial and probably a lot of fun. It would mix things up and probably help a lot of young adults in their future endeavors. Personally, I would want to learn Mandarin but I just do not have the time to do so.
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My family is half Chinese and I was always raised to speak the language to communicate with my grandma, who doesn’t speak English very well. The dialect I speak though is very small, so hardly anyone knows it. A lot of my Chinese friends actually went to Chinese school to learn either Mandarin or Cantonese, since those are the most popular Chinese dialects. For some reason, I wasn’t interested in learning the language and was in a way, against it. I think at the time though, I wasn’t proud to be Chinese and kind of ashamed.. which now that I think about it.. it makes me sad that I felt that way before. Nonetheless, as much as I didn’t want to take the classes, I did and I didn’t learn a lot, but I still remember some things and in the end, I’m glad I did it. If I thoroughly tried to learn though, I could have probably learned a lot and retained it. The reason why my family wanted my brothers, cousins and I to learn Chinese is because of the same fact that Sam has said: Chinese is becoming a popular language in the business world. Although it’s technically the number one language in the world now (because of the natural fact that Asia is a big continent with many citizens) I would consider English to be the number one language in the business world. It would certainly help people who are bilingual to succeed, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
I personally am a Spanish minor and I feel like that would help me more, especially in this country when Spanish is the second popular language. I’m really glad that schools are incorporating Chinese as a language though. In a way it’s surprising to me, but in a good way. I lived in the city of Philadelphia when I was in elementary school and I was actually taught Chinese in fourth grade. It wasn’t offered anymore shortly after though, because of the costs. It makes more sense for a diverse city like Philadelphia to offer Chinese because of the population of Chinese in the city, so for schools that aren’t as diverse, I think it’s a great step in the direction of spreading diversity. However, cutting down on some languages is sad. When I was in middle school, Spanish, French and German were offered and it seems weird to me that French and German would be cut. But as I’m writing, it would make sense since Chinese is such a dominant language now. Instead of being ashamed now, It makes me proud that I am Chinese and I can take pride in the fact that I know the language.. even if it’s only a tiny bit.
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From my experience in taking foreign language classes and speaking with other students who also have, people either want to learn another language or they don't. For those that don't, they struggle through four years of spanish or french in high school (plus whatever is required in years prior) and just forget everything they know when they get to college. So why are we making it mandatory to take these classes during the first twelve years of a child's life? If someone doesn't like it while they're being forced into taking a language class, they're going to quit the second they hit college and forget everything they know. I, personally, took spanish all through my K-12 years, and really enjoyed it. I was really good at it, and it came pretty naturally to me. I decided to minor in spanish here at Penn State, and I can honestly say I'll be (very near) fluent by the time I graduate. People like me will take the classes regardless, but why force a kid to take these classes when they won't get anything out of it in the end? Wouldn't they be better off taking another science class or something?
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The growing presence of the Chinese language in America seems similar to the presence of the Spanish and Latino cultures in our country that have been on the rise for quite some time now. The presence of the Spanish language in America has reached the point where it is not uncommon to find English publications printed alternately in Spanish, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Chinese language reach an equal level of prominence sometime in the future. As China continues its rapid growth in the global economy (I’m not an economics major, but so I’ve heard), knowledge of the Chinese language will also rapidly grow in importance if the U.S. is to remain a top player in global economics.
As far as alternate English publications in Chinese, that may not happen as quickly, because the Spanish publications serve the large and growing population of Spanish-speaking residents in the United States, and, to the best of my knowledge, the Chinese population in our country is not nearly as large or expanding as fast. Regardless, the language will be important. But as useful, and possibly necessary to survival, as it may be to learn these languages, I think we need to take care that English remains the primary language in America.
OK, now hang on a second. I’m well aware that comment may have come off as closed-minded, but please, hear me out on this one. First of all, I want to make it known that I am in no way against the use of different tongues or, as some may extend my comments to mean, immigration. The melting-pot nature of America is something that shouldn’t be lost because of the differing and educational cultural experiences it provides us. If my comments were interpreted to mean we should establish a national language, they were interpreted wrong. But if they were interpreted to mean I’m not sold on the idea of translating ALL our printed English into Spanish, I’m not inclined to argue with that interpretation.
What I’m trying to say, perhaps in simpler terms, is that cultures vary by location, and if a person chooses to live in a given location, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to expect him or her to learn the culture, regardless if that person chooses to engage in the practices of the culture.
For example: If I choose to move to Germany, I could probably get by speaking English (granted, many European countries cater to English speakers more than America caters to people who don’t speak English), but I would hold myself to understanding the language and culture, if for no other reason than to help myself succeed. Slang terms and things of that nature are inherent in a culture and may not be effectively translated into another language, and if I was, say, a business man who wanted a step up on his competition, learning the language and culture would be necessary for success. I never said it would be easy to move to another country and learn a new language. I think it would be far from easy – difficult, in fact – but that’s just one of the things that comes with it.
Make no mistake, foreign languages should absolutely be taught in schools, and it is great for our country, both from an economical and a purely educational standpoint, to see foreign language programs sprouting in our nation’s schools. The fact of the matter, though, remains that English is the language the majority of Americans use to communicate, and in a democracy, the majority should continue to take precedent.
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I think it’s incredible that schools in the United States are finally picking up another language other than the typical high school intro language classes. The fact that these students are willing to start learning such a difficult language in high school is impressive to me. When I was in high school, I took Spanish because I thought it was easy and cool. If they started elementary programs with Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, French, or whatever language, I think they would see a major increase in the number of bilingual individuals in this country. Most of the people in other countries across the world are at least bilingual. In Buenos Aires, a majority of the population spoke English as well as Spanish. In Tunisia, they speak Arabic, French, English and Italian. This country is supposed to be the “melting pot” but yet we are requiring that most people speak English and the majority of the population is only monolingual. Starting Chinese or Spanish in the high schools is a good idea. I think it increases the amount of students who decide to further their education in languages. But it’s not soon enough to make a big enough difference. The one woman was saying about how she would love to get a Spanish program started in the elementary schools and I think that’s a great idea. I’m a Spanish major so I’m partial to early education in languages in the school system. I’m taking a second language acquisition class now and we’re constantly talking about this critical period and how after the age of around 12 you just start losing the ability to acquire a language or to at least become fluent.
It’s a good investment for China to send over teachers and students. It’s good for future international business between the two countries and could also better our political status. They’re spreading not only their language, but also their culture and ideas so that Americans can start to see how the other half of the world lives. It’s all about ethnocentrism and how immersing these younger students in languages and culture can change how they see things. If more Americans start looking at the lives of other people, whether it’s through different lenses or in their shoes, I think it would make a big difference in how we treat other countries and their inhabitants. That’s a big problem, I think, in many peoples’ thinking. They believe that it is just “learning another language”, but it represent so much more than that. The whole idea encompasses your willingness to accept another culture, one that is different from your own, and not just the “Americanized” version, but if you were to be in another culture, to be able to accept others who are different from yourself. It holds a lot of social weight, not just the ability to speak another language, but the attempt in general. I think it speaks volumes on a person’s character, whether or not they become 100% fluent.
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In my school district, foreign language is part of the curriculum starting in elementary school. Foreign language in my school district started being incorporated into the curriculum when I was in third grade, so I started taking French in third grade, whereas when my younger brother started elementary school, he began learning a foreign language in first grade. (When I went through school, French was taught in elementary school I guess just because there was a French teacher available, but when my younger brother started school, all of the kids had been switched over to learning Spanish I think because the school district thought that knowing Spanish was more useful). Now, I would not say that I am fluent in French, but I am pretty much proficient in French. Looking back, French wasn’t necessarily the best language to take – I feel that the only time I have really ever been able to use it was when I was in France last summer and when I have read phrases in my English books from older authors or from theorists read in my English classes. However, if you want to get a job in the United Nations right now, you have to know how to speak French, so French is definitely still a good language to know.
I think that on a daily and common basis, Spanish is a much more useful language to know because of the Spanish speaking population increasing in the United States (and also too, if you want to become a doctor, it is very advisable to know how to speak Spanish, especially if you are working in a city hospital). Therefore, (because I am considering going to medical school) I am slightly jealous that my brother will be proficient in Spanish by the time he graduates. Therefore, I am taking Spanish courses at Penn State, and I have found that because I learned another language (French) at such a young age, Spanish was extremely easy for me to pick up and learn (whereas other students struggled) because I already knew sentence and grammatical structures, and certain words are very similar. I think that I have retained the Spanish I have learned at Penn State because another foreign language was ingrained in me at such a young age, and now sometimes when I hear someone speaking Spanish or French, there are times when I have to ask my friends around me if the person is speaking Spanish or French because sometimes the language they are speaking just doesn’t register with me because I understand the languages pretty well. (There are have also been times when I have had to speak either French or Spanish, and I have unconsciously mixed Spanish words with French words because I am so used to speaking both languages).
I strongly believe that foreign languages should be learned at a very early age and that it is more difficult/somewhat pointless to learn speaking a foreign language at an older age because you just don’t retain the information as well and have to think about speaking it instead of just being able to speak it. That being said, I believe that learning Chinese in schools is a fantastic idea because Chinese is a very prominent language in the business world. I definitely believe that Spanish and Chinese are the ways to go if you want to learn a language because Spanish can be useful on a daily basis and Chinese can help you further your career.
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