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by:
John Davison
Chinese is a language, or
a group of languages, spoken by 1.3 billion
people worldwide. If you believe Chinese to be
one language, rather than a grouping, it is the
single most commonly spoken language on the
planet. It is spoken in countries like China,
Taiwan Singapore, and Malaysia. If you are
interested in learning Chinese, it can be
intimidating and challenging. But if you learn
Chinese, it can be rewarding, and knowing it
can have benefits for your career, and help to
improve your travels to Asia.
If you decide to learn the
Chinese language, there a number of ways you can
go about doing so. As a college student, you can
learn Mandarin Chinese and earn a degree in it.
Earning a college degree in Chinese will provide
you with a solid knowledge of formal, or
Mandarin, Chinese. You will also be proficient
in reading and writing the alphabet, which is a
standard alphabet throughout the
Chinese-speaking world. If you are established
in your career, and find it necessary to learn
Chinese for business dealings and /or
business-associated travel, you can enroll in an
accelerated Chinese language course online, or
by purchasing audiotapes that teach quick
techniques, which will help you to rapidly learn
how to speak basic Mandarin Chinese. Learning to
speak Chinese this way is convenient if you need
to learn it before an important business trip.
There are several learning centers that provide
accelerated online programs in Chinese, and many
lesson on tape available for purchase.
If you are a student
majoring of minoring in Chinese, or if you are a
tourist with a desire to travel to Asia, an
ideal way to learn the Chinese language is
through participation in an immersion program.
By doing this, you will not only learn how to
speak Chinese, but you will learn about and
experience Chinese culture. By studying Chinese
in a city like Beijing, where the language is
natively spoken, you will become part of the
life and culture, and you will find learning to
speak the Chinese language is much easier than
you thought. Since it is a total immersion into
the Chinese world, you will learn all
conversational and idiomatic styles of the
language. You will interact everyday with people
who are native speakers of Chinese, and who
can’t or won’t speak English with you. You will
be taken on guided tours of the famous
landmarks, as well as the everyday places. You
will grow to understand and recognize the value
of the ancient Chinese culture: the history, the
art, the architecture, the food, and the people.
You will attend courses in which you will learn
the complex Chinese alphabet, how to read it,
and how to write it as well. Learning the
Chinese language by attending an immersion
program is an ideal way to go.
If you are fluent in the
Chinese language, not only could it help you if
are established in a career, but it could also
open doors to new careers for you. For example,
you could take a job as a foreign language
translator, where you would be responsible for
translating websites, training documents, and
other important business documents, while
helping to bridge the communication gap between
two very different cultures. You might also
consider a career as a teacher if English as a
second language. You have the opportunity to
relocate to a Chinese-speaking nation, and teach
the English language to Chinese students. Being
fluent in Chinese will definitely make your
relocation less stressful.
Learning how to speak,
read, and write the Chinese language has many
advantages. It gives you the potential to
enhance you career by working and/or traveling
abroad, or you would have opportunities to
embark on new careers as a translator or a
teacher. If you plan to travel to Asia, if you
learn Chinese, it will make your journeys less stressful
and more enjoyable. Taking the time to learning
the Chinese language will open your eyes to a
new and often misunderstood culture, and is an
achievement that can be personally and
professionally fulfilling. |
