|
 |
Westerners fluent in Asian languages | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6294 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 25 of 57 27 January 2010 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | ||
Lots of Westerners in Taiwan are fluent in Mandarin. It is hard to get a work visa in some countries (as it used to be in Taiwan) so you have to really like the place to put up with all the hassles to stick around. I think this cuts down on the number of people learning the language to an advanced level. Also, teaching materials for Asian languages used to be horrendous. Lots of good stuff available now. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zhiguli Senior Member Canada Joined 6441 days ago 176 posts - 221 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Mandarin | Message 26 of 57 27 January 2010 at 4:29pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Well, it is going to be a lot rarer than foreigners speaking English because these languages are not that popular, and the number of, say, Cambodian immigrants in western countries far exceeds the number of western expats in Cambodia. Even for expats there's very little incentive to learn it because most of the locals they deal with already speak English (or French). Though I have heard of non-Khmers living near immigrant communities picking up the language from their friends and even becoming native-level fluent, but these are the exception.
An American teacher of Khmer who makes his own instructional videos, and some of his former students An Australian who speaks and sings in Khmer on national TV (I've been told she sounds like a native) Some American Mormons (a group known for their language-learning prowess) singing and speaking in Khmer 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Impiegato Triglot Senior Member Sweden bsntranslation. Joined 5433 days ago 100 posts - 145 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, Italian Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 27 of 57 30 January 2010 at 4:41pm | IP Logged | ||
|
One important factor may be that several European languages are spread in many countries around the world, whereas Asian langugaes are spoken only in Asia (apart from the emigrants). As to the respective difficulty, I don't know if it generally is harder for a European to learn the different alphabets/characters in for example Chinese or Japanese than vice versa? I have never tried, so I cannot comment on it. However, I can imagine it is, because when a Europen learns Chinese, Korean or Japanese, it is necessary to learn the character, the phoneme and then how to srite it.
On the contrary, when a Chinese/Japanese/Korean learns a language from Europe, each letter represents how the word sounds phoneticly. Isn't that easier? Otherwise, if it is not about difficulty or different usefulness, it seems like Europeans still are more unwilling to learn Asian languages for some reason. I still think the major reason is the position of English in the world. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vientito Senior Member Canada Joined 6338 days ago 212 posts - 281 votes | Message 28 of 57 30 January 2010 at 6:33pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Korean characters are multiple times easier than European characters. I learn it in under 48 hours. It took me a week to start typing on the keyboard as well. Korean children rank almost earliest in the world to become literate, all because of the ease of hangul.
Do not lump Korean writing together with Japanese or Chinese. It is an entirely different breed. Chinese perhaps really is the hardest to master, simply because of the writing system. To see a westerner talking fluently in Chinese or Korean, to me, is a marvel. To see them dealing effectively with Asian culture deserves a standing ovation. To get to that point, just being smart is not enough. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6342 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 29 of 57 30 January 2010 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I don't really know about the situation in other Asian countries but in China,
foreigners couldn't care less about the local culture. They usually all live together in expatriate districts, send their kids to American schools, get their breakfast in Starbucks, eat western food, go to bars with other foreigners, etc. Having been in Hong Kong for nearly 2 years, I only met one westerner who spoke Cantonese fluently and learned it as a second language (there are many people mixed- blood who can speak the language natively but I'm not sure these count). The person was a Mormon who used it the language to convert locals. I have yet to meet a foreigner fluent in Mandarin but I never lived in Mainland China so there might be a few hidden somewhere. Whenever I say something in Chinese to a local they usually look at me like if I was from another planet and then keep praising me and tell all their friends about me even though my vocabulary is extremely limited. On the other hand the comments I often get from Westerners are things like 'You don't have to learn Chinese, English is enough to get a job here'. Chinese people are much more willing to adopt to their environment than their western counterpart so they do not mind learning others' languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5752 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish | Message 30 of 57 30 January 2010 at 11:18pm | IP Logged | ||
I work in the finance industry, and all of the westerners in our Beijing office are fluent (fluent enough to negotiate corporate restructurings, and mergers and acquisitions in Mandarin). In other words, near native level. There are lots of Mandarin speaking westerners in finance, due to a combination of the relatively new free markets of mainland China, and the highly specialized skills required that only an exec with years of experience from the US can provide. Companies will often find senior level executives (often smart, talkative people), send them to an intensive language school for a year in Beijing (12 hours study a day, 5 days a week). Usually, they are quite fluent after two years. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 31 of 57 31 January 2010 at 3:38am | IP Logged | ||
|
JasonBourne, do you have any more information about these schools? 12 hours a day is almost too incredible to be true.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5752 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish | Message 32 of 57 31 January 2010 at 7:49am | IP Logged | ||
I can ask around for the exact schools/tutoring programs they used, as I don't know offhand. Note: when one of the Asia office directors told me 12 hours a day, I assumed he meant class hours + study time, so basically a full time language study much like FSI or DLI. Combined with this, he told me his Mandarin skills didn't really take off until he "hit the street" and was forced to converse with clients everyday. 12 hours a day may seem like a lot, but these are bankers we're talking about who are used to working 80-90 hours a week. The language school probably seemed like a vacation in comparison. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
