Mine the only ones not learning Mandarin?

<p>Having lived in Asia, and played around with learning a functional vocabulary in various Asian languages years ago, I was determined that my kids learn an Asian language early in life. Once you learn one Asian language, things make sense in others. Many cognates, as with most European languages. But, the school started them on French in middle school, and their knowledge and enthusiasm flourished throughout HS. Our HS taught no Asian languages, though others in the district do (grrr). They (twins) both may major in French in college. Both have easily added Spanish in recent years. Despite Japanese camp and Asian family, their interest in Asian languages is minimal. Too much early exposure? Who knows. </p>

<p>But the point, is that language learning should perhaps be in line with interests, affinities and career goals. For many, many jobs, as well as lives lived predominately in the USA, Spanish is a necessity. And a very good entre into the job market for some. I’ve also heard Spanish put down in certain business related circles as ‘of no import.’ Perhaps that is true, looking toward Asia and Europe. But here in the upper midwest, far from Mexico, it is becoming essential. </p>

<p>Do those of you living on the coasts have an opportunity to use Chinese, either Mandarin or Cantonese? Or is much of that population English speaking? I ask, because I don’t see a use for it here, despite a fair sized Asian population, and finding a place and reason to speak adds greatly to learning motivation. Most of the Asian population in our area tends to be quite well educated, and English speaking. </p>

<p>After a certain amount of travel, I’ve come to the realization that the places where knowledge of another language is essential are the large monolingual land masses. China, S. America. Though perhaps that is less true with the explosion of English teaching in China. I haven’t been in China in decades. But my S is teaching English teachers this year in Shanghai, and he has found their English level to be surprisingly low. </p>

<p>The US govt is waking up to the fact that there are serious deficits in the number of citizens with a working knowledge of less commonly used languages in this country. The languages of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and, surprisingly, Korean. Some money and intent is being given to rectifying that problem.</p>

<p>In Houston (perhaps not on one of the coasts you had in mind), I can think of a number of situations when speaking Mandarin could have been quite useful. While many of my (Chinese) high school friends had parents who spoke English quite well, I also had a number of friends whose parents spoke very little English, or who were quite difficult to understand. In many authentic Chinese restaurants in the Houston area, you’re not going to be ordering any of the specials unless you can either speak or read Chinese. In certain areas of town, it can be tricky to communicate with waiters. Perhaps surprisingly, I rarely found a use for the Spanish I took in high school; maybe I just wasn’t in the right part of town.</p>

<p>Having just returned from a trip to China after taking a semester of Mandarin in college, it’s clear that a semester isn’t enough to be functional. I’m not sure that after a year or two of high school Spanish that I was much better off, though. The vocabulary that is useful for travel is not what typically comes first in language courses. After a year of Spanish, I could tell you all about school supplies and my friends’ appearances; after a semester of Mandarian, I can discuss the classes I’m taking and what I like to do in my free time (but only if the answer is basketball).</p>

<p>No, not the coast I had in mind, but very interesting! Never would have connected Houston and Chinese. </p>

<p>Self study courses tend to start with the vocabulary of travel. Otherwise, you might be excited to find yourself able to have a conversation while watching a basketball game during the Beijing Olympics.</p>

<p>I tried Mandarin… dismal failure. And languages are my strength.</p>

<p>Unless they intend to go into international-asian business or join the military…they will probably gain more by learning Spanish. It is a bit more common in the US!</p>

<p>fringey, I tried Mandarin too. Ack! I don’t have a good enough ear for tones. I speak French and German fluently, and had a pretty good grasp of tourist Italian. I’m not naturally good at languages - I perfected the two I speak fluently through immersion and a lot of hard work.</p>

<p>Friends (Jewish) just adopted a pre-schooler from China. The new dad is teaching her Mandarin – she only spoke a different dialect. They’re actually considering moving to China for a period of time so the D & their bio-son will learn to speak fluent Mandarin without any American accent.</p>

<p>My daughter has a very good ear for the tones, and she also is good at memorizing the characters. She studies art as well as Chinese, and she believes that she is a visual learner and this helps a lot with learning the characters. Everyone has different skills, as we all know - my husband, son, and I are very good at math, while this is not her strength, but I don’t think we could learn Mandarin if our lives depended on it.</p>

<p>If my child were in middle school or about to start high school and had to choose a language to study, I would be wary if the child chose an unusual language that is only taught in relatively few schools. This includes Mandarin, as well as Arabic, Russian, or German. Even Latin is not taught in all schools. </p>

<p>What happens if the family has to move to another district or if the student switches schools? The new school may not offer the unusual language.</p>

<p>Of course, I realize that if a student completes two years of Mandarin, in grades 9 and 10, and then transfers to a school where only Spanish and French are offered, college admissions officers will make an exception to their rules requiring three years of study of the same foreign language and will understand why the student took Mandarin 1 and 2 followed by Spanish 1 and 2. But still, the student will have missed out on the opportunity to learn a language to the point where it could actually be used. And if the college that the student chooses has a language requirement for graduation, it will take a lot longer for the student to fulfill it than it would for a student who had taken four years of the same foreign language in high school.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reality check. There are some good points being raised here. Our son’s new school doesn’t offer Chinese or Russian like his old school, but he LOVES Spanish and has been recommended for the honors level course next year so I should be happy with that, I think. (he’s in 9th grade now)</p>

<p>My daughter who studies Chinese is hoping she can take a semester of Spanish next year when she is a senior in college to bring her skills up to the level where she can actually use Spanish. She spent a month studying in Spain in high school so she had a higher level than if she had just taken it in school, but it has been a while since she used it and she wants to refresh it and improve it :)</p>

<p>Well, you make me felling really bad now. </p>

<p>We are from China and none of my two kids speak much, if any, mandarin.</p>

<p>Dad II - Related to your comment, but a little off topic… We are not Chinese, but my daughter who is studying Chinese has many Chinese-American classmates who are in her Chinese classes. Some of them can speak Chinese but cannot read and write it. As most readers of this thread probably know, unlike English or Spanish, etc. which are phonetic, the sounds of the Chinese words have no relationship to the Chinese characters, so even a fluent speaker must spend a lot of time studying to be able to read and write. Some larger universities with enough interested Chinese-Amierican students actually have special Chinese classes for these students who learned to speak at home and wish to learn to read and write.</p>

<p>Dad II – Don’t feel bad. There are only 24 hours in a day, and you can’t do it all.</p>

<p>StickerShock - That is very true … I am sure Dad II’s kids are doing other things that are worthwhile and that they enjoy!</p>

<p>After HS graduation, My DD, who spoke no Chinese, decided to go to China last summer with some friends (one of whom was Chinese American who was fairly fluent) and attend the Beijing Culture and Language institute. She spent five weeks, four of them at the school. taking class four hours a day. They spent the first couple of days learning Pinyin which uses the Latin alphabet to represent sounds in Standard Mandarin. She then decided to focus only on the spoken language and not bother with the reading or writting of Chinese symbols. By the time she was done, she was very comfortable getting around, asking for directions, ordering food and best of all, bargaining in the markets. I was amazed that she could get so far in just four weeks of class (and no outside extra homework). The school has 17,000 kids at any one time. Kids are in small classes grouped by proficiency, or lack there of. It was an incredibly enjoyable and enlightening experience. She just started a pilot Business Chinese class at Wharton, which will also focus only on speaking and listening. We’ll see how that goes.</p>

<p>I’ll vouch for the difficulty of learning to read and write Chinese… I’ve tried and failed 3 times. That’s probably the hardest part of learning the language.</p>