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Learning Mandarin: False Eastern Promise | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6890 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 25 of 33 13 February 2008 at 2:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
I completely agree with you. The number of class hours that those kids will receive will not be enough to get past the bare basics of Mandarin. I really wonder how they will motivate children to memorise characters when it's hard enough to get them to remember how to conjugate a verb. Also, from personal experience, I've found that the language taught in the classroom is rarely of much help in a 'real life' situation. I remember spending hours learning French verbs and grammar rules but the language you end up 'learning' (or, for some, memorising for exams) is somewhat stilted and far removed from colloquial French. Would the schools do a better job with Mandarin, a language where there is a severe lack of qualified teachers? Learning Mandarin will also be a bit pointless for those children (or teens) who have no desire whatsoever to go into business or seek a China-related career. Let's face it...it can be quite hard for us language enthusiasts to find good opportunities to put their language skills to good use. If we find it hard to find such jobs, it's unlikely that your average pupil is going to actually have the chance to use the language. Even if pupils were motivated enough to pass their exams, they would still need to maintain and improve their language skills if they want to be proficient Mandarin speakers. Anyone who has learnt (or is learning) Mandarin can tell you need real determination to get past the basics. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ChrisWebb Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6263 days ago 181 posts - 190 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean | Message 26 of 33 17 February 2008 at 3:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have to somewhat agree with anyone who questions the idea that learning Mandarin for business reasons is a good ( or even reasonable ) idea. I think there are good reasons that someone might have for learning a far eastern language, I dont imagine that business usage is really ever going to be amongst them though and i doubt that many learning for this reason will make much progress at all.
I know from my experience with Korean that I would not persist without a strong interest in both the language and the culture combined with a practical need to communicate with my wife's family. If you took some of these motivations away I would basically quit and I fear anyone who imagines they will pick up a little Mandarin for business use will probably just waste a pile of time realising that it's harder than they imagined before quitting having made little real progress. We should leave Mandarin for those with a genuine interest in it from a cultural or linguistic standpoint and let them reap any incidental benefit that might accrue to them from their ability to translate for the business community. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6294 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 27 of 33 18 February 2008 at 7:28am | IP Logged | |||||
There is always a way to make a buck. Just be the best at whatever it is you choose to do. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6294 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 28 of 33 18 February 2008 at 7:30am | IP Logged | |||||
Unless you are reading accounting books in Chinese or something like that. No reason why an hour studying Mandarin isn't an hour studying something else as well. Double your pleasure. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6659 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 29 of 33 18 February 2008 at 10:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have to agree with ChrisWebb. If you want to learn Mandarin Chinese for business, you'll learn pretty quickly that you need more than just "a little." If you're going to become fluent enough to conduct business in that language, you'll probably have to put in a lot of time and effort. The culture is different enough from Western cultures that you'll also need to spend a great deal of time learning about the culture. While you're at it, you still need to learn about business.
If you are going to learn Mandarin Chinese for business, you'd better be serious about it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| solidsnake Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7041 days ago 469 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin | Message 30 of 33 18 February 2008 at 3:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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And taking from Jimbo and SamD's posts, I would not go about learning about business from any (Mainland) Chinese books. The business generation over there (40+) is still taking notes from the "Little Red Book" and as far as Mao Ze Dong's managerial and administrative prowess goes, lets just say Alfred P. Sloan he was not.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7156 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 31 of 33 09 September 2011 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Here's something interesting about the thinking of some of China's superrich (i.e. the manifestations of China's rising economic status and "proof" for some students of Mandarin that the language they study will be THE business language of the future)
If what these billionaries believe is true, then I'm left to conclude that if a sufficient number of China's "powerhouses" and their wealth move elsewhere (it seems that the USA comes up as preferred destination for all of its current problems) then the economic prestige associated with Mandarin on a global level will probably level off or even decline. This would happen as the offspring of influential Chinese learn English and are raised in heavily Westernized environments and thus lose at least some (if not all) their connection to China. This also reinforces what has been said previously in the thread where focusing on learning a language for far-off business reasons (i.e. make money in some hypothetical business deal in the future) often goes nowhere or leads to disappointment unless the learner is set on the professional translation/interpretation path or has a job or opportunity lined up where knowing the language is core to that job or opportunity's being. In other words, learn a language because there's something other than future cash inflow inspiring your studies. The satisfaction or benefit in learning or mastering that language may go far beyond what money can provide (e.g. new social contacts, broadening of knowledge - some of which may be esoteric, but who cares? ;-)) Doing business with people who natively speak a foreign language often requires more than just learning that foreign language, and whatever goodwill someone would gain by knowing that foreign language will be more than offset if he/she would have nothing else to offer. Or here's a variation of this idea on the place of language and business or financial wealth: Do businesspeople from the USA or UK do unusually roaring trade with businesspeople in India or Singapore just on the strength of everyone knowing English? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Dr. POW Groupie Canada Joined 4965 days ago 48 posts - 58 votes Studies: German, English* Studies: French | Message 32 of 33 11 September 2011 at 12:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm not especially sure if somebody learning a language just for reasons regarding
business will be as successful as somebody learning it due to their love and interest towards the language. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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