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I see absolutely no downfall to learning another language, but tons of benefits. I wish I had been encouraged to learn another language as a child. By the time I understood the true benefits of being bilingual, I was nearly done with college and had too many other things on my plate to think about taking more classes.
I still hope one day when my life slows down a little I'll find a foreign language class to enroll in.
Most 11 yr old kids do not speak proper English, or spell it,yet we are teaching them another language? Yikes! Let's get one down at a time
Often times learning another language helps improve English grammar. I don't know anything about Chinese, but I know my piddly years of Latin and my sister's years of Spanish filled in a LOT of holes in our English grammar and vocabulary.
This is different. Learning Chinese about global economy, not being invaded by Russians.
Our economy IS global, and China WILL BE the next economic super power.
There's no question about it. It's just a matter of time.
They already are an economic super power....but the fact remains they need us more then we need them....so it's not to our benefit to learn Chinese. The threats of the Chinese is overtaking the world economy is overstated just a tad. By the time china deals with it's problems and is ready to take the stage we will most likely have more of a world level government so the point is really a moot one.
They already are an economic super power....but the fact remains they need us more then we need them....so it's not to our benefit to learn Chinese.
But paganmama, the coolness factor is off the charts!
I have a Caucasian friend who speaks fluent Japanese. We walk into a sushi bar, he lets loose with a string of, "Hey! What's happening?" in Japanese to the Japanese chefs and we get the primo pieces and the best seat in the house!
I'm responding to the people who seem to think that American kids will left behind if they don't learn it is all . I think learning anything is a benefit though personally.
By the time your children are going to college, it might be mandatory for certain business programs. I was researching top business programs at universities and quite a few require an international intership. At this point, the basic language is taught prior to sending the students overseas; however fifteen years from now colleges might only accepting students who already speak the language.
The reality is that currently a language is required for getting accepted to college anyways. If your child is required to learn a language to get into college anyway, why not Chinese? It's not a stretch of imagination for speaking Chinese to be a prerequisite for an international internship in China. If you know already that China will be a major player in the global economy 18 years from now, it makes sense to teach children Chinese.
Sure, you might think it's unnecessary because your child will be an artist, etc. But your child might be internationally business minded when he/she becomes an adult. He/she might regret not having the language advantage to get accepted into programs he/she wants to get into.
Of course, I don't think it's mandatory, but I think that anyone with young children should seriously consider that it will give them more options when they are ready for college though.
But paganmama, the coolness factor is off the charts!
I have a Caucasian friend who speaks fluent Japanese. We walk into a sushi bar, he lets loose with a string of, "Hey! What's happening?" in Japanese to the Japanese chefs and we get the primo pieces and the best seat in the house!
They might do that because they want to oggle your breasts too.... . And like i said i don't see anything wrong with it, my response is mostly to the people who feel somehow Chinese will be the next world language or something.
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. I think learning anything is a benefit though personally.
. And like i said i don't see anything wrong with it, my response is mostly to the people who feel somehow Chinese will be the next world language or something.
