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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.
Yes!!! And this is EXACTLY why I have put my children in a Chinese immersion school. THIS!
Actually It is so important to me and my children's future, that my husband and I are don't even live in the same state because there are no mandarin schools in Dallas-where he took a job last year.
Back in my retail and corporate days, I knew many people that were fluent in more than English. When I was just out of the Navy in 1956 2 years after getting out, I worked at the best middle class furniture store in the Silicon Valley area. One of the salesmen spoke Spanish, Italian, and English (Italian ethnic group). There were a lot of Spanish Speakers and Italian Speakers in the area, and though they were raised in California they were more comfortable speaking their native language than English. He wrote a lot of orders, the 5 of us that only spoke English would never get. Another spoke Italian, Spanish, and Deaf and Dumb hand speaking. All fluently. I had to call on him many times over the years, to speak to the deaf and dumb crowd, that were coming to the store as they understood someone working there could talk to and with them.
In the corporate world, I was assigned to offices all over the country, as sales manager. I found in each area, that there would be a ethnic group that though were born in U.S. still spoke their original language at home. Even in the corporate world, they were more comfortable speaking their own language other than English. I made it a point to hire salesmen that could speak the local languages. Those applicants if they were equal other ways, were the ones that I and others hired.
I know of numerous men and women that were hired over all others and paid better when they could speak 2 or more languages. They were more valuable to an employer when they had visitors from other countries wanting to do business.
OP, learning languages can be valuable. When I was stationed in Philadelphia in the navy, the floor below our barracks (school group), was the men sent over to learn about an aircraft carrier and would operate it when the French took it over in a few weeks. Most did not know any English. I had taken 2 years of French in high school, and could hold a conversation with them. It was interesting to be able to talk to them, and could give them advice about things they may want to see in the area. I spoke at the rate of speech that Americans use. Then a new class replaced the graduating class (there were always 6 classes in the barracks at one time. They all were in our barracks wing. One of them was raised up on the French Canadian area of Canada, and he spoke French like a French Man as well as English. He took over being the interpreter, and they all spoke at a rate of speed I had no idea of what they were talking about. There is a difference between being able to read and write the language, and speak it at normal English cadence, vs. Speaking and Understanding it well.
OP---I learned a long time ago, that speaking a foreign language can give you an advantage in life. With all that is going on between China and the United States, learning Chinese and being half way intelligent, will ensure you will never have a problem getting a job. A lot of those crying on these threads, that they cannot get a job in their field anywhere, will not have learned a second language that the company will see as a big benefit to them.
One thing for sure is Chinese companies are more stable than American companies. They have positive cash flows not ones bleeding and still burning through investor money. Even companies like Uber is burning through cash still in the red but they are the market leader. If you work at a Chinese firm, you can only go up and never down. Like I said before, a lot of Chinese businesses are starting up here and need workers while American companies keep closing down and moving over to Mexico.
oldtrader's post is very telling. From what I've read in various sources, the Chinese are very proud of their convoluted, difficult language and orthography and accord an extra degree of acceptance onto foreigners who can learn it. Compared with various other cultures. Contrast with the Dutch, who, again, according to what I've read and seen in youtube videos, have an attitude of "really, why bother learning our language. We'd rather you not waste your time. Just put up with our accented English, it will be fine."
For some people it's just the intellectual challenge that is appealing. This is an extremely interesting article on the subject of learning Chinese as a westerner: Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard
I see a lot of people nowadays who want to learn Chinese or want to teach their kids Chinese.
I don't understand the obsession.
Yes China has 1.5 billion people, but the languages is very focused mostly on China and not widespread like Spanish and French.
Also, the kids who have Chinese parents in America, most of them don't speak Mandarin fluently and almost none of them can write. The languages is so difficult that even many people from China cannot write that well.
And I don't think people really should worry about businesses with China because English will be just fine, just like businesses with any other countries.
The chances are, no matter how much you put your effort to learn Chinese, the Chinese people will probably speak English better than you speaking Mandarin.
I've seen many people who tried to learn Chinese and they all gave up relatively quick. All gave up on basic level. Only person I have seen who learned was my teacher from college (She studied for long years in Taiwan and China).
My opinion is that unless you are 100% sure that you will go all the way with Chinese, don't even bother learning it. Better to use that time on something else.
So yeah, many people seem to be very afraid of China's economy, but there's just no way in hell that Chinese will surpass English and it would just take too much time to even learn a little that it probably does not even worth trying it.
There is a local private school ($25,000 yr tuition for K-12 grade!) that pitches that they are teaching Mandarin. You should hear the proud (yet overcharged) parents extolling the virtues of their children learning Mandarin! My daughter does significantly better with her Spanish as a 2nd language.
Local private school recently published where the seniors were heading to college.......6-7 of them noted the local community college......guess after 100K in tuition all that Mandarin didn't get them into Harvard after all!
There is a local private school ($25,000 yr tuition for K-12 grade!) that pitches that they are teaching Mandarin. You should hear the proud (yet overcharged) parents extolling the virtues of their children learning Mandarin! My daughter does significantly better with her Spanish as a 2nd language.
Local private school recently published where the seniors were heading to college.......6-7 of them noted the local community college......guess after 100K in tuition all that Mandarin didn't get them into Harvard after all!
In order to get into Harvard, it will be more practical to learn "Chinese" math.
I don't understand your obsession with people who want to learn other languages.
If you don't understand already, some people just want to expand their horizons beyond what is right in front of them.
Any additional skills/training one acquires gives them an advantage over those who do not acquire those skills/training. It could be education, certification, foreign language or sometimes real world experience such as an internship.
I know a guy who has a BS in electrical engineering and a JD. You know what he does? He works at his mom's day care. Has virtually zero work experience and any idea how adults interact in the real world. He's 37, same as me.
And also, if you don't read and write Chinese characters on everyday basis, you will forget them.
My friend's mom was born and raised in China for around 25years and although she still is fluent on speaking, she forgot a lot of Chinese characters and can't read newspapers completely. (She can still read, just not completely). And keep in mind that she does not speak good English and she still watches Chinese shows all the time .
And my friend, he came to America when he was 8 or 9, he can speak Chinese, but can't read or write at all.
So there's still problem of not forgetting it even if you know it.
Being born and raised in China doesn't necessarily guarantee that you'll be able to read and write the characters. China is a big place, and most of it I'd say are poor areas where access to education is not readily accessible. My grandma lived in China for half her life, but grew up in extreme poverty...not to mention that women back then were pushed into other things rather than education. She can speak Cantonese and Mandarin, but her reading and writing is very limited.
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