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As was said, there are multiple languages in China - Mandarin is one, Catonese is another. There is also traditional vs. simplified Chinese characters. So which one does one select when wanting to learn Chinese?
You don't have to - I go to China several times a year for business - they are learning English like crazy. Why? Because the global standardized language for business and travel is English. They know it, and they are adapting to be competitive in the world market.
I still have trouble with Chinese taxi drivers however.
1. Chinese is not easier for English-speakers to learn than Korean or Japanese (all are ranked "exceptionally difficult" by the Foreign Service Institute). The supposedly "simple" grammar of Chinese is more than offset by the difficulty of the 100% foreign vocabulary, tonal system, and the written characters.
2. English-speaking adults often underestimate how much easier it really is to master a Germanic or Romance language than one which is totally unrelated to English. It is not rare for an English-speaker to spend a year in Italy and come back speaking passable Italian and understanding most Italian speech; it would be highly unlikely for the same adult to achieve anywhere near the same level of competence after a year in China.
3. Children in immersion classes will apparently speak the second language quite well. However, they almost never have native-like fluency in grammar and vocabulary and this should not be expected. Also, speaking of Chinese in particular, a child who has learned to read and write characters up through, say, 6th grade, is not fluent in reading Chinese; this is due to the nature of the writing system.
I am not downplaying bilingual immersion, which has many benefits no matter what the second language is, just being realistic. And in the nature of things, an English-speaking child in a Spanish immersion class will almost certainly emerge with greater ability in that language than a child in a Chinese immersion class, because Spanish has more points of contact with English.
I disagree, OP. Spoken Mandarin is not difficult at all. The people I know who studied it for more than a year have maintained it. On the West Coast, there are plenty of people who speak it, I mean--"overseas Chinese". You can practice it simply by watching TV. There are Chinese emigres all over the world, so you can practice it when you're travelling almost anywhere: Latin America, Europe, all over Asia. Not all Chinese you run into will be Mandarin speakers, but most will be. If you enjoy it, you'll find ways to practice it.
The written language is a whole other ballgame, though. For people with some artistic talent, people with a good visual memory, it's not so hard, and can even be a delight. Most Westerners aren't so visually oriented, though, and struggle with the written language. And if you don't practice reading it regularly, you forget it very quickly.
About 30 years ago, I have a niece that took 4 years of Chinese Languages through High School. She was a natural at it, and could speak it as well as she could English (White ethnic group). Here senior year of high school, went to a big job fair for college students. Saw an older Chinese gentleman at one booth and greeted him in Chinese. He was at a booth for one of the most prestigious employers in this country. They had a long conversation in Chinese.
He recommended to some of the top brass from that company, that they hire this girl to work for them. End result of that conversation they hired her, and gave her a full ride scholarship to go to college along with income to live on, and she has worked for them every since. She has been to China numerous times, going over with trade delegations, etc., and even been loaned out to U.S. government for special delegations to China. When not in China, she works at their headquarters and does the communication with China as needed.
She would tell you, that learning Chinese for her, was a way to a top executive salary, and job security that most people will never have in life. Her employer makes sure she is happy and pay her enough no one can steal her away from them.
OP, your post is bizarre. Why do you care if people want to learn Chinese?
Why do people risk their lives to climb mountains? Because it is an accomplishment.
Why do employers prefer multilingual candidates? Because they are more useful to the company.
Why do people learn any language? To communicate with others
Why would someone learn an easy language when they can learn a difficult one? Bragging rights!
I was hoping to get one of my nieces to learn Mandarin and the other to learn Arabic. If they are able to communicate in these languages in addition to Spanish and English, I believe that they will have an edge in the job market or in college applications. I would personally also love to learn Mandarin but I am not good at tonal languages or characters.
Learning languages is fun, keeps elderly brains young, improves cross-cultural exchange, improves job prospects, improves travel experiences, etc. etc. etc.
There is no downside to learning a foreign language. If you are not interested in Mandarin, then don't You study it. There are dozens of reasons why someone else would want to learn one of the most spoken languages on earth.
I've taken one year of Mandarin and haven't retained much. I am bilingual, but not in an Asian language. For me, as an English teacher (in North America), it has greatly helped with understanding my students and their language errors. I also find basic usage to be helpful with Chinese seniors, in particular. It is very appreciated by them.
For me, as an English teacher (in North America), it has greatly helped with understanding my students and their language errors.
This is valuable, especially if you have many students from the same linguistic background.
Alternatively, it is fun as well as enlightening to deduce from the errors English-learners make, what characteristics their native languages must have. For instance, I have no experience with Arabic, but after spending one hour with a Saudi Arabian who was beginning to learn English I had already deduced that Arabic puts adjectives after nouns, doesn't use the verb "to be" in the present tense, and lacks the sound /p/.
I have to say that the young person referenced a few posts above, who took four years of high school Chinese and turned out dead fluent, speaking Chinese as well as English, is such a one-in-a-million outlier that I hope no one expects similar results from his or her high school Chinese course.
Like I said, many American companies are leaving here while Chinese companies are building factories here. Many rich Chinese folks are here looking to buy property or do business and these are opportunities that an American who can speak Mandarin can tap into. Apple is hiring retail store workers who can speak Mandarin because it gets a lot of business here from Chinese visitors.
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