what do you use Chinese for?

[huaxia]

Hi, all.

I, as a native Chinese and an instructor of Chinese in the states, am often asked by some people "Why would people in the states need to study Chinese?/What would you do with Chinese?", immediately after they find out that I teach Chinese. Based on my experience of this online forum, I feel that quite a lot of you guys have lots of experience of using Chinese as a foreign language for work and life. So what do you use Chinese for? And what has motivated you to study and continue studying Chinese? What's your view of the future of Chinese learning and teaching in the U.S. and other parts of the world?

Sorry for throwing so many questions here. But I would really appreciate you sharing your opinions/stories so that I have more ideas about this, and as a professional in this field I do need to know more about these.

[renzhe]

I don't know much about the state of the teaching market in the US, so this is my speculation.

I think that the Chinese learning hype will continue, but ultimately the bubble will burst. I don't think that we'll ever have the situation where 10% of Americans (or German, or British, or French, etc.) speak Chinese, like they do with some other languages in some of these countries.

I do expect that the interest in Chinese will be higher than before, that there will be more people studying Chinese at the university level, or for professional reasons (translators, working overseas, etc.) and Chinese will be offered at more places (like schools and community colleges) but let's face it, this will always be a tiny minority of people. The language is simply too much work for the wide masses, and there are languages which are easier to learn and far more useful for many purposes.

Personally, I have zero need for Chinese. I cannot imagine any scenario where speaking the language might be in any way beneficial to me (professionally), other than possibly the "cool" factor when applying for a job.

I learn it for personal reasons, and because I'm interested in the language and the people. I certainly find it worthwhile. But reading Chinese classics and conversing with Chinese people (who will mostly speak English anywy) will not motivate most people to go through the necessary effort.

I might be too pessimistic here, but I don't think that people will learn a few semesters of Chinese en masse so they can go and integrate into a Chinese workplace. I mean, people moving to China to work will obviously find it useful, but they are still relatively few, and many don't even bother to learn the language.

It will likely continue to be the province of language lovers, people marrying into Chinese families, kung fu practitioners, feng shui hobbyists, and other people with a strong interest in the Chinese culture. More than today due to improved teaching and increased relevance of China, but still a fringe in the grand scheme of things.

Edited January 22, 2010 at 07:52 PM by renzhe

[chrix]

Undergrads studying East Asian languages from the university I'm at have told me that they do not expect to use any foreign language later after graduating. I guess this is still the mainstream view in the US. I mean, from the perspective of an average American, where would they have the opportunity to use Mandarin in their daily lives, or any other foreign language, for that matter?

In general, foreign languages are increasingly less studied in the US, though with a single exception: Mandarin

[woliveri]

Learning Chinese for me had been most difficult as resources were difficult to come by when I was trying to learn (80s).. That was in Florida. Florida is still terrible but now there are online an electronic resources that makes it much more available than when I was coming up.

California and the west in general is much better for learning Chinese now (with the exception of other hot spots around the US).

I think what most learn Chinese for is business. When I was studying in Shanghai most of the students, if not all, were studying for business purposes (Japanese South Korean, Thailand, Austrailians, and Indonisians where the bulk of the students population).

Others, like myself, have a deep interest in the cultural aspects of China (Traditional Chinese Medicine, internal Martial arts, Qigong, neigong, shufa, music, etc).

So there are a lot of reasons to learn Chinese.

By the way, in what state/city are you teaching?

[GeoffC]

I am learning Chinese as a hobby and for brain stimulation.

I have always been fascinated by Chinese characters. I can remember getting a book from the library while in primary school, and still retain the image of 人superimposed on a man walking. As a stamp collector the Chinese characters were puzzling. In a Chinese restaurant, what was really being offered on the menu?

It was only last year, in my retirement, that I decided to do something about it. My interest is primarily in learning to recognise Chinese characters. This may develop later into reading and speaking. I have tried several books, but the one that really got me going was “Learning Chinese Characters” by Alison & Laurence Matthews. I also find Laurence Matthews’s “Chinese Character Fast Finder” extremely useful for looking up Chinese characters.

This hobby has developed and now most of my reading these days is about China and the Chinese. Fascinating. Books I have enjoyed are: “The River at the Center of the World” by Simon Winchester, “China Road” by Rob Gifford, “Oracle Bones” by Peter Hessler, “Falling Leaves” by Adeline Yen Mah.

[Meng Lelan]

Top five reasons my students take Chinese:

1. Marrying or is married to Chinese wife

2. Plan to travel to China

3. Want to study abroad in China

4. Has a family member from China (for example, a grandparent)

5. Interest in Chinese art

[trien27]

Basically the same thing I use for English, plus to see what some ladies say on dating sites, etc...

And I also try to translate other languages into Chinese, etc...

Current project: translating between English, Greek, Russian & Chinese plus Norwegian into Chinese, and vice versa, etc...

[knadolny]

So what do you use Chinese for? And what has motivated you to study and continue studying Chinese? What's your view of the future of Chinese learning and teaching in the U.S. and other parts of the world?

I began learning the language because I love to learn languages and I find Chinese language and culture fascinating. I left my job in the US because I did not have many opportunities to use my Chinese which I found dissapointing. I was hoping my old company would focus on breaking into the Chinese market but that never happened.

I now live in Japan now with my wife and have found a job here with a Japanese company. I can't speak Japanese, but my company here is really focusing on expanding their market into China.

I'm a structural engineer which is my main skill set and I feel that once I have Japanese and Chinese under my belt I will become much more valuable. A lot of building is happening in China and I think you can be best positioned to find work there if you speak the local language.

Of course you must still also be very good at what you do. For me I have to be a good structural engineer before my Chinese will be of use.

[DrWatson]

For me it is a hobby I enjoy. There are hundreds of thousands of Chinese who speak better English than I do Chinese, so I don't really see any advantage of learning Chinese in gaining employment. Employers are more interested in skill at the job than skill at languages any way. When I lived in Japan, speaking and writing Japanese was just a bonus for my coworkers; what they were really interested in were my engineering skills and ability to handle English-related business for them.

I suppose I'm also hoping one day I might be able to get a work assignment in China one day and I can use my Chinese for outside of work.

In the end, though, I just hope to continue enjoying Chinese language learning. With the rich culture and history, there is always something new to learn about.

[knadolny]

When I lived in Japan, speaking and writing Japanese was just a bonus for my coworkers; what they were really interested in were my engineering skills and ability to handle English-related business for them.

Ah interesting point of view. My experience is not like this at all. I agree my engineering skills are very important, BUT my coworkers are no longer allowed to speak English with me and next month I have an interview to become a career employee (guaranteed employment until 65/ right now I am "part time") during which I am only allowed to speak Japanese.

[xiaotao]

Keeping in touch with my heritage is very important to me. It has been very satisfying to communicate in Chinese. Knowing another language opens another world. It makes life more interesting.

[DrWatson]

Ah interesting point of view. My experience is not like this at all. I agree my engineering skills are very important, BUT my coworkers are no longer allowed to speak English with me and next month I have an interview to become a career employee (guaranteed employment until 65/ right now I am "part time") during which I am only allowed to speak Japanese.

I suppose it depends on your industry. I was in semiconductors and wireless telecoms when I was in Japan, and the main customer base was the EU, while most of the semiconductor components were designed and engineered in the US, Canada, or EU, which meant thick manuals in English only. My coworkers liked that I spoke to them in Japanese, but if I only knew English my boss would not have cared (like with our other division). He wanted someone figuring out those components and getting them to work so the Japanese engineers could employ them in our products. You mentioned your company was more focused on China, so maybe that is the difference?

Good luck with the 正社員 gig. I truly preferred being a contractor as I could not stand having to stay in the office until 10 PM as a face-saving measure. I hope your company is much better than the ones I worked for!

[Meng Lelan]

Keeping in touch with my heritage is very important to me.

That to me is the best reason of all. I have a student right now whose great grandfather was from China. It was a very satisfying experience to "decipher" the Chinese name from his great grandfather's signature seal that he brought me.

So now he is using his great grandfather's last name as part of his new Chinese name - that really is "keeping in touch" with one's heritage.

[trisha2766]

I am learning chinese because my husband and I are adopting from China. I want to learn enough to be able to talk to our daughter around the house and have everyday conversations in Chinese. And to be able to read children's books in Chinese to her.

Why? Because I want her to learn the language so:

1) she will be more knowledgeable about the culture she was born into which should also help her deal with some of the discrimination she will probably encounter growing up Chinese outside of China without Chinese parents.

2) when as she gets older and goes to school or works with people from China she can have a conversation with them and not feel left out, and/or feel trapped between cultures.

3) if she decides at some point in her life that she wants to explore her Chinese roots and study in China or travel she would be able to communicate more easily.

4) if she has an opportunity to locate birth family someday it would be nice for her to be able to talk to them without having someone to translate. Although I am aware that her family may be from a non-mandarin speaking area, I suspect that any siblings she might find would still know standard Mandarin.

5) Lots of research has shown that people who grow up learning/knowing more than one language do better on both IQ and creativity testing among other things. So for her to learn another language is really important to me, and Mandarin the most obvious choice. Research has also shown that for a child to really learn another language growing up they need to be exposed to it at least 20% of their time. I don't see, at least where I live, that this would be possible for her unless I can talk and interact with her in Mandarin also. I don't think a weekend Chinese school would be enough.

I realize that based on my Chinese ability now that this is still going to be quite a challenge for me. One that I'm not about to give up on though, my daughter will be too important to me to not try and put the best effort I can into it. I hope I will be able to speak correct enough grammar for simple sentences and that my accent won't be too bad.

I find it a bit frustrating that most learning materials are based on business and travel. Those don't help me as much. There are still many, many things I can imagine wanting to be able to say to young child that I haven't learned yet or found in any text books. Child care related words and phrases and specifics like - 'straighten your arm out so mommy can get your arm through your sleeve', etc., etc. I have a number of Chinese friends my husband works with and maybe I can afford a tutor sometime to help with some of this.

[chrix]

trisha, maybe you could house some Chinese students studying in St. Louis? A friend of mine lived in Japan until the age of two, and after leaving Japan she was able to maintain/develop her Japanese because her parents had Japanese students studying at the local university staying with them (her parents were both Japanese instructors but as far as I'm aware research has shown that infants have quite a hard time accepting their parents talking in a foreign language with them). I'm not sure if this was a contract deal or just arose out of the circumstances naturally... But I sure was amazed at her native-like ability to speak Japanese!

[Chinadoog]

I just think that it's cool to learn Chinese. I'm also living in China, and it makes sense for me to learn the language since most people here can't speak English.

[gerri]

Just wanted to throw in here... in my opinion, learning a foreign language is simply a part of a standard education. And then, if you don't have particular interests, why not go for a language widely spoken?

I'll admit, though, that I have never understood how anybody could be proudly monolingual and claim to be educated...

[doraemon]

I'm learning Chinese because:

1) It'll open up my future prospects since Chinese is a really useful language to know in the 21st century.

2) Being able to communicate with family/friends in China. Basically all my family's over there.

3) Being of Chinese background, I would be really ashamed and embarrassed for myself if I didn't know the language. I'm working really hard to make sure my Chinese eventually matches my English and someday I want to be as good as a native. (this is probably by far the most important reason for me)

4) In the future, I want to live and work in China.

Overall, I see learning Chinese as more of an obligation and something I should do rather than want to do.

[Shi Tong]

For curiosity and because my wife is from Taiwan (girlfriend at the time!).

Plus, I think that it was annoying to sit at a dinner table amoung friends and family and to have things constantly translated- it's arduous and people dont really like to do it all the time.

I've also found that people respect you if you speak their language, instead of just thinking you're another "cant be bothered to learn/ cant learn" foreigner sitting at the table, waiting for people to speak to them in their own language. I also think it shows respect for them too.

I hope that at some point, I might be able to use it for international trade, or my work etc also, so I'm carrying on my studies.

[Lu]

Started studying Chinese out of interest: I always liked languages, and Chinese culture seemed interesting and exotic. Chinese opened a whole new world, and now I want to keep it up so that I can stay in touch with that world.

I use Chinese at work (always had jobs I needed a certain amount of Chinese for), when watching Chinese movies or reading Chinese books, when keeping in touch with Chinese friends...

Here in Holland, there's a fair number of people studying Chinese in university. Also, more and more high schools start to offer Chinese to their students. But it won't be a major foreign language here like French or German, more of an interesting extra class some schools offer. (I also don't think they'd learn all that much, but I don't know, actually.)