The use of language isn’t just about gaining economically, it’s somewhat too shallow to only look though such a lens While China also has been arguably the biggest beneficiary of the global trades since it joined the WTO.
Language is also the window to a culture, to understanding your life better, to have a different perspective. It’s really hard to explain to anyone what 缘分or幸福 means in English.
Languages serve as the gateway that can benefit in less visible but have profound long term impact
I wholeheartedly agree (also with Thomas Dai); Chinese students should certainly learn English and other foreign languages by all means. But at the same time far more Westerners should study Chinese! There is a need for better mutual understanding.
I can understand why some Chinese people are pushing back against pressure to learn English. But it is hard to deny that English has become a world language. I believe the underlying problem is the sheer difficulty that non-Chinese people have in learning Chinese. I have spent around 12,000 hours since I retired 13 years ago on studying Chinese, mainly in order to read it. I have achieved a good level of reading ability and mainly focus on biographies and memoirs of Chinese personalities from the 1920s to the 1970s. I decided to pursue Chinese partly because it is so difficult, and so it has proved. I am reasonably fluent in French, but compared with Chinese, English and French are basically two 'dialects' of the same language. I have only been able to achieve my present level of proficiency in Chinese because I am retired and have had sufficient time to do it. I expect that people outside China will continue to have serious difficulties in acquiring a high level of Chinese proficiency. Meanwhile it would be helpful if more Chinese publications could produce translations in Chinese (e.g., 三联生活周刊).
The use of language isn’t just about gaining economically, it’s somewhat too shallow to only look though such a lens While China also has been arguably the biggest beneficiary of the global trades since it joined the WTO.
Language is also the window to a culture, to understanding your life better, to have a different perspective. It’s really hard to explain to anyone what 缘分or幸福 means in English.
Languages serve as the gateway that can benefit in less visible but have profound long term impact
I wholeheartedly agree (also with Thomas Dai); Chinese students should certainly learn English and other foreign languages by all means. But at the same time far more Westerners should study Chinese! There is a need for better mutual understanding.
I can understand why some Chinese people are pushing back against pressure to learn English. But it is hard to deny that English has become a world language. I believe the underlying problem is the sheer difficulty that non-Chinese people have in learning Chinese. I have spent around 12,000 hours since I retired 13 years ago on studying Chinese, mainly in order to read it. I have achieved a good level of reading ability and mainly focus on biographies and memoirs of Chinese personalities from the 1920s to the 1970s. I decided to pursue Chinese partly because it is so difficult, and so it has proved. I am reasonably fluent in French, but compared with Chinese, English and French are basically two 'dialects' of the same language. I have only been able to achieve my present level of proficiency in Chinese because I am retired and have had sufficient time to do it. I expect that people outside China will continue to have serious difficulties in acquiring a high level of Chinese proficiency. Meanwhile it would be helpful if more Chinese publications could produce translations in Chinese (e.g., 三联生活周刊).