are you really interested in chinese?

[HuLing]

i am a chinese. i studied english for 4 years in university. when i was in school i took parttime jobs as translator, english speaking tour guide. i love languages. after graduation, i took jobs has nothing to do with english. i got really up set about this. days ago, maybe they found my resume on line, someone called me to ask if i would like to be an chinese teacher to foreign students. i said why not. i had some experience. i taught french students when i was in school, parttime of course. but what confused me now is how many foreign people are interested in chinese language. can i take it a career? is this career potential? people move to china for different porpose. i would not help wondering how many of you move to china for chinese language or culture. are you really interested in it?

[muyongshi]

In a short answer- yes I believe there is a career opportunity in teaching Chinese.

It is a very fast growing industry and honestly hasn't come close to peaking at this point. However, this being said let add some more thoughts on it.

How long will this industry continue to grow? No one knows- my guess would be at least another 10 years. So how long will it be a viable career for as many people that are getting into it?- EVEN LESS!!!!!

Why? I believe within the next 10-20 years the competition will get so fierce that only a small percentage of people that had or (in the future) are planning to enter into that career field will be able to stay in it as a career. This will be due to the standardization of the industry, a plateauing of the industry demand and an increase in the quality of teachers and their training. The increase in competition will lead this field to a greater standardization and higher quality meaning that many people will not be able to continue in it as a career. They may have experience but due to lack of training or (laziness) they won't have the skills to continue in an increasingly competitive market.

But don't worry- that's still a ways out but you can see it moving that way by even low end colleges starting to have 对外汉语 as choices for majors. The quality is still low OVERALL but will come up really fast. Be prepared.

[Simon_CH]

All he sais in principle is be professional and offer good quality teaching and you'll be in an excellent profession for the future !

There are very few Chinese speakers who aren't Chinese in the west as of yet. But as the number of tourists and businessmen to China, and the number of Chinese travelling the world for both tourism and business will increase massively, the demand for teachers will explode. The trick as muyongshi suggested is probably to get really good in both languages, so try to improve your English as good as you can while understanding the difficulties for foreigners to learn your language!

One big reason for me to learn Chinese is because it will really help my career. There are more and more business ties between Switzerland and China, or Europe in general.

Speaking Chinese is very valuable for those companies and gives me a clear advantage when finding a job! (And there are very few Chinese who speak both German, French and English like me, so a Chinese can't replace me despite his superiour knowledge of Chinese )

[Lugubert]

I suppose I'm not the standard flavour of language learners. Having a choice, I would prefer a teacher with a minimum of two academic years of studying the language to be taught. Any native speaker won't do for me.

On the other hand, I have studied Chinese for what amounts to two full academic years, and am beginning to be comfortable with reading. Speaking and listening, however, is another kettle of fish. I could use a native with extreme patience to help me with especially tones 2 and 4, but will be looking for somebody who also has some linguistic training.

A Chinese person who doesn't understand the concept of phonemes but is only into initials vs. finals is impossible for me. If I want to discuss my teacher's difference in vowel quality between pan ([æ]) and pang ([a]), I don't want to hear just "an and ang are different finals".

[Don_Horhe]

I think the best would be a native speaker, who has had academic training in both linguistics and teaching Chinese to foreigners, and if they could speak English, too, then that would be the cherry on the cake. I'm asking for too much, I know...

[Lugubert]

I think the best would be a native speaker, who has had academic training in both linguistics and teaching Chinese to foreigners, and if they could speak English, too, then that would be the cherry on the cake. I'm asking for too much, I know...

This. ^ ^ ^

Especially if that teacher won't concentrate on him-/herself learning English.

If you know somebody in Chengdu who will answer to my requirements and will have some four hours per day free in the autumn, please PM me. I won't pay western hourly wages, but promise to be quite competitive in the local setting.

[yonglin]

My best Chinese teacher spoke about 3 words of English. I was an absolute beginner.

I find that being able to explain stuff in English is quite over-rated. At lower levels, nothing much needs to be explained because stuff is straightforward (just memorize characters, patterns, etc.). At higher levels, it's better to explain in Chinese anyway.

Of course, other students may have different preferences.

To the OP: I had a Chinese teacher in Xi'an who proclaimed that she completely loved her job. Why? She was working at a university, taught classes 8.30-12.30 and then had the rest of the day to herself (including some prep, I suppose). Comparing that to a regular office job, I can certainly see the benefits. Most of my teachers seem to have done an undergraduate degree in Chinese and a master's degree in 对外汉语, although now I guess there are undergraduate degrees in the latter. I would think that private schools and universities might have different expectations with regard to qualifications.

[Lu]

More and more people are interested in Chinese and China, so yes, there is a potential career there. Of course you'll have to enjoy the actual teaching or you'll be unhappy, and you greatly increase your chances of success if you learn about teaching Chinese, since usually just speaking it as your mother tongue is not enough to explain it to others.

Good luck!

[Don_Horhe]

What I meant by speaks English was actually understands English. I agree with Yonglin that having stuff explained in Chinese is better. I myself have no problem with explanations in Chinese; what I sometimes have difficulties with is asking questions in Chinese, especially if they are about something very specific and involve/require technical terms which I simply haven't studied yet.

[Shadowdh]

For my money you cannot beat a native speaker for speaking, listening, reading and writing... however the grammar side of things including explaining the difference in vowel quality between pan ([æ]) and pang ([a]) does not necessarily need a native speaker, but someone who is well versed in grammar of both the language of origin and the target language...

To the OP... yes you certainly can make a career in teaching Chinese. These days Chinese is becoming a much sought after language...

[HuLing]

thank you all for replying.

having been thinking of this for some days, I decide to leave it my interest. if any of you guys has any problem in chinese learning, just feel free to ask me. I would be glad to answer questions.

or if you have any questions about travel in Xi`an, feel free to ask. I would also be glad to tell.

[aljensen]

The big problem with teaching Chinese as a foreign language is that are over 1 billion people who can claim to be native speakers of Chinese. This means that if you want to teach Chinese as a foreign language you will have many people to compete with.

However, if you can move overseas, you will be able to make quite a bit of money. Still, you will need to have a lot of qualifications if you want to teach someplace like the USA or Canada.

Another option would be to teach in a country like the Phillipines and Malaysia.