What 's the reason you study Chinese?

[Tsunku]

I took Spanish throughout high school and during my final year took up Japanese because I had become friends with a Japanese exchange student. I had always been interested in other cultures, the more different from my own the better. When I started college, I continued Japanese and started taking Chinese as well. Languages were kind of a hobby of mine, and although I really wanted to learn Vietnamese (I was living in Texas, which has a very large Vietnamese population), it wasn't offered, so I took up Chinese. I wanted to speak languages which no one would expect me to know -- I guess showing off is a factor. In college I dropped Japanese because the teacher was bad, and I became very interested in Chinese because I had an excellent teacher, a young woman who had graduated from Beida and was a grad student at my US school.

At the same time, I was also fascinated by Asian history, especially modern history. Learning about America's involvement in SE Asia led me to modern Chinese history and the Cultural Revolution. As a film major, I began to look at Chinese films more closely, and felt that I could understand them more fully with a background in Chinese language. Eventually, I took on Asian Studies as a second major and decided to concentrate in Modern China. I went to study abroad in Kunming and that was when my interest in Chinese language really started to grow. When I went back to my school in the states I tried my best to keep up with what I had learned, and I returned as soon as I graduated. Now, living in China, Chinese is a daily fact of life, and I study it not simply because I'm interested in it, but because I have to in order to have the kind of life I want to have here. For this same reason I also study the dialect of my home, Kunminghua. Chinese, finally, for me has become a matter of communication rather than academic study.

[Haethurn]

Tsunku-your high school taught Japanese? Man, I wish my high school would teach that.

[Claw]

大家好！我在香港出生的，三歲移民到美國。在美國沒有那麼多機會講廣東話，所以我講廣東話的能力越來越差。我父母跟我講粵語，我就用英語回答。由於我父母的英語不太好，有時我不知道怎麼跟他們談話。因此上大學的時候我學了三年普通話（原本想學粵語但我的大學沒有）。現在我會讀與寫一點中文，學普通話也讓我的粵語有好處。我希望有機會繼續練習中文（粵語和普通話）。

English translation:

Hello everyone! I was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to America when I was 3 years old. I didn't have much opportunity to speak Cantonese in the US so my Cantonese ability progressively became worse. My parents would talk to me in Cantonese but I would reply in English. Since my parents' English is not that great, sometimes I didn't even know how to converse with them. So when I went to college, I took three years of Mandarin Chinese (originally I wanted to take Cantonese, but my college didn't have those classes). Now I know how to read and write a bit of Chinese. Learning Mandarin also helped my Cantonese ability. I hope to have more opportunities to continue learning Chinese (both Cantonese and Mandarin).

[jwarriner]

我想听老子用他自己的话来形容宇宙.

I want to listen to Lao Zi describe the universe in his own words.

[shibo77]

我想听老子用他自己的话来形容宇宙.

I want to listen to Lao Zi describe the universe in his own words

ADMIRABLE!!

-Shibo

[nosferatu2083]

My reasons to learn Chinese are, first, to be able to talk to about a billion more people, second, to be able to know what people say if they use Chinese as a secret language, third, to show off, fourth, to see things from a different perspective, fifth, for possible business reasons, sixth, for fun, and, finally, for the challenge.

Wow, I never sat down and thought of all the reasons for learning the language.

[geek_frappa]

noble reason: to help improve factory conditions for workers in china.

selfish reason: to be able to read/write chinese love poems to my gf.

[Jasper May]

To show off. Come on, everyone who learns Chinese without living there and not actually being of Chinese descent must have this as their primary reason. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

[nosferatu2083]

To show off. Come on, everyone who learns Chinese without living there and not actually being of Chinese descent must have this as their primary reason. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

Ok, I'll admit that was my primary reason, and perhaps my only one. I just gave all the other reasons because I didn't want to feel guilty or been seen as a complete egoist.

[skylee]

selfish reason: to be able to read/write chinese love poems to my gf.

Neat. Your girlfriend is very lucky.

[PheonixUK]

To show off. Come on, everyone who learns Chinese without living there and not actually being of Chinese descent must have this as their primary reason. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

Either that or they want a way to get with the cute chinese guy/girl they know, not that I would do anything like that

[Alleluia]

To show off. Come on, everyone who learns Chinese without living there and not actually being of Chinese descent must have this as their primary reason. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

Not everyone is like you, Jasper May... In a way I've started to enjoy the astonished looks that I get when I tell people what I study, but showing off was not even a minor reason for me to start Chinese. Actually, when people ask me to "Say something in Chinese, I want to hear what it's like" (which is often!), I always refuse. I don't know how to handle that kind of attention, it makes me feel like I'm some circus animal, taught to perform tricks for other's entertainment. I'm more the quiet academic type, I learn it for the sake of learning alone, not to show off to others... But I guess you'll think I'm lying anyway.

[Jose]

In my case, I have always liked studying foreign languages, and I was curious about the structure of the language. After I started studying it around ten years ago, I have continued trying to learn it because I really enjoy it. I think the beauty of its script, especially in the traditional form, is what makes it so enjoyable.

Other than that, I suppose it has become a bit of a personal challenge, and that is why I continue studying it. I don't think it has anything to do with showing off, but maybe in my subconscious mind that factor also plays a role. I don't know. It is never easy to explain, even to oneself, the reason for the hobbies one is fond of.

[J.B. Frog]

I majored in a couple of technical subjects in college, and the courses started to blur together and all use the same few tracks in my brain. I wanted to study something as different as learning to ride a bike for the first time, to have my mind totally engaged. Plus those Chinese characters in restaurants were just fascinating, what mysterious things are they saying? So I dabbled for a while but now am taking classes. It's mostly for fun, but also because knowing Chinese might be useful in the future. Like some others have said, I too wanted to learn a language with completely different roots than I.E., and to gain access to this deep, old culture that has had its own successes but is completely separate from and an alternative to, Western culture. Now it's in fact even its biggest competitor.

So for fun, interest and profit

[LiYuanXi]

I started learning since i was born which makes it... 22 years now. I realised that learning Chinese is a never ending process. You can never say "yah i finished learning chinese". My friend who is a Chinese teacher (55 years old) studied all those lao zi, meng zi, zhuang zi, kong zi etc and is still learning chinese!

I guess when you learn chinese, you have to learn the culture, the thinking, the history and the philosophy as well. So that's why i am still learning it.

我想听老子用他自己的话来形容宇宙.

I want to listen to Lao Zi describe the universe in his own words.

I gave up after reading chapter 2!

[Lu]

Showing off is a factor, but I just realized that recently. It's nice to see people's surprise when the realize I can speak Chinese :-)

[madizi]

I started to study Sinology (Chinese studies) by coincidence. First I wanted to study only Comparative Literature. But then other people persuaded me to take one additional subject as minor ("because you'll never get a job with comparative literature" ). So I ran my eyes over a list of subjects and among them was also sinology. "Oh, sinology," I said to my self. "That's something connected with China, isn't it??? Ok, let it be, I'll handle it with ease. [] " And so I chose Comp. Lit. as major and Sinology as minor. That was in 1996.

One year later...............

1. I found out that I don't like Comparative Literature.

2. I found out that I like Sinology, China, Chinese language,... everything about China

3. I droped Comparative Literature and changed it with Theology.

4. Sinology became my major and Theology minor

Nowadays...........

I don't regret my decision even for a minute. I'm happy that I graduated in Sinology. My Chinese language is still not good but I like to learn it every day. I hope that one day I'll move to China/Taiwan and live there.

[chris.]

I began to study chines for a shallow reason....chinese chicks are awesome:P..but later on I really started to enjoy learning the language and talking to chinese people. I have made many new friends

[bokane]

I first got interested in Chinese when I was about 5, since my old neighborhood had a lot of recent Cantonese-speaking immigrants. Then, years later when I was 16, my parents gave me a copy of Stephen Mitchell's "translation" of the Daode Jing, and I decided that I'd like to be able to read it in the original. So I started taking evening classes at the local community college, and proceeded to fall in love with the language.

I've since decided that I don't particularly like the Daode Jing, and that Zhuangzi could have kicked Laozi's butt any day, but by this point it's more or less secondary: I'm studying Chinese because I enjoy it.

[aline]

My parents were both born in China. They immigrated to Mauritius about 25 years ago and that's where I was born and living for the past 19 years.

I took Mandarin classes back in Mauritius but I wasn't totally satisfied with the classes. I felt like they were not challenging enough and since the best place for me to study and improve my spoken and written Chinese is China itself, I came here last month.

I think that Hanyu is a beautiful language. Apart from my love for languages, my other reason for studying the chinese language is that it's a way for me to 'get back to my roots'.