The Chinese language is becoming increasingly important in the global arena after the English Language. However, many are worried that whether this craze is just another blip. Modern language history has showed that the trend of learning a new language ultimately loses its appeal after a period of time. Colonial languages such as Spanish and French are such examples. Therefore, the concern whether mandarin Chinese will encounter the same fate is not completely unfounded. That said the rush to teach mandarin Chinese in the USA and UK remains relatively strong, especially when the USA government has announced that Mandarin Chinese is a ‘critical language’ for both students and businesses. So, should you be enrolling yourself or your children in a mandarin class? Let us see what is in it for you.

Mastering Mandarin Chinese will help you to get a better job

To be fair, any foreign language skills would. Since the Chinese economy is only getting bigger, that makes it a more valuable skill compared to other foreign languages. Culture and language come hand in hand. So, the knowledge of the Chinese language will also bring you closer to understanding the Chinese culture. With the added knowledge of the culture, you are more likely to secure a better job since most businesses want to expand into China. You will make yourself invaluable to your company.

Learning Mandarin Chinese is difficult

Make no mistake about it. The Chinese language has no common vocabulary of any sort with English or any other Latin languages. Most English speakers find it easier to learn Spanish because they have a lot of vocabulary similarities. Furthermore, the Chinese writing system is not even remotely similar to any Latin scripts. The typical Chinese character will have about 15 strokes or more. There is no pre-defined set of alphabets such as the 26 alphabetic characters in English. It is going to take a lot of your time before you are able to memorise the most commonly used Chinese characters and also writing them correctly. Let’s put it this way, the greater the challenge, the sweeter the reward. Learning Mandarin Chinese will allow you access to the Far East. It opens up a whole new world of opportunities for you.

The Chinese language has the most number of speakers globally

Although I would qualify this statement by saying most of the speakers are residing in China and not around the world. This is quite a big difference compared to English as English speakers are truly global. However, one should note that China has four thousand years of history and it also has a significant influence in shaping the course of the world’s history. If not for the fear of communism during the last century, most countries would have continued to allow Chinese language education. Now, with the rise of globalization and the ease of air travel, more people are going to migrate to different parts of the world. In recent years, we have been witnessing frequent migrations of native Chinese to many parts of the world. As China has the largest population in the world, it does not take a leap of imagination to see that Mandarin Chinese will soon take its rightful place beside English in the international arena.

So, should you be enrolling yourself or your children to a Mandarin Chinese lesson? I think that would be a prudent choice.