Benefits of Studying ChineseBenefits

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Chinese
Studying anything has many advantages, and languages are no different. There are
personal and professional advantages to be derived from studying them. Right no in
the orld Chinese is moving itself into a position to be the dominant language and
!ultural for!e for the "#st !entury. So it follos that learning Chinese $ust ma%es sense
be!ause it ill !hange your life. But hat, spe!ifi!ally, !an be gained from %noing ho
to !ommuni!ate ith these people&
Let's start ith the most !ommonly !ited reasons for studying Chinese(
#. China is the most populous !ountry in the orld ith over #.) billion people. Mandarin
is spo%en by almost one billion people. *t is the most idely spo%en language in the
orld. +ne out of five people in the orld is Chinese,
". Mandarin is spo%en in the -eople's Republi! of China, Taian, *ndonesia, Thailand,
Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, The -hilippines, and Mongolia,
.. /noing Chinese ill allo students to !ompete effe!tively in the global e!onomy of
the future,
). China is one of 0meri!a's largest trading partners,
1. Many 0meri!an !ompanies do business in China, in!luding Motorola, Co!a Cola, and
2ord,
3. /noing Chinese may be an edge hen !ompeting for a $ob. The demand for
business people ho %no Chinese is s%yro!%eting,
4. China is playing a ma$or role in orld affairs and ill !ontinue to do so,
5. 0 May "663 7esee% arti!le stated that 8*n 9.S. homes, Chinese has e!lipsed
2ren!h, :erman and *talian and be!ome the third most !ommonly spo%en language
after ;nglish and Spanish,8
<. By studying Chinese, students ill develop an appre!iation for Chinese !ulture and
history,
#6. Leaning a se!ond language develops !riti!al and !reative thin%ing s%ills.
=2rom( Chinese Language 0sso!iation at .!lass%#".org>bs!.htm?
;veryone %nos these and has heard them several times. Let's start ith the most
obvious benefit in your life to learning Chinese@@ the !onvenien!e of %noing the
language. *t opens more than # billion doors of !ommuni!ation. The Chinese are
edu!ated and sophisti!ated and getting to %no them ill ma%e any one's life fuller and
more interesting. 7ot too mention the travel possibilities. Being able to travel around
China and see and eAperien!e their !ountry and !ulture is an immeasurable benefit for
a person's life. +n!e those doors are open hat ill you !ommuni!ate about& Cultural
eA!hanges, history, art, and of !ourse business are four that readily hop to mind.
But there are other benefits too. 2or instan!e, a little less easy to see but $ust as
important is that it !reates !hoi!es. 0!!ess to a large part of Chinese !ulture is blo!%ed
from the average non@Chinese be!ause only the boo%s and other !ultural aspe!ts of the
Chinese !ultural heritage that someone thought might ma%e a profit is available through
translated or%s. The parts that have been made available don't even represent a
fra!tion of a per!ent of hat is really there. The lion's share is on a boo%shelf aiting to
be dis!overed. They are li%e diamonds that have been mined, polished, !ut and begging
to be re@dis!overed by the rest of the orld.
0nyone ho has spent some time, even briefly, learning about China Bui!%ly realiCes
ho mu!h there is out there that is ri!h, vibrant and insightful. The Chinese have a
!ulture that rea!hes ba!% at least 1666 years and have managed to re!ord mu!h of
hat has happened and been said and !reated over those years. Dithout a foothold in
the language you are for!ed to rely on someone ho might not be sensitive to your
personal sense of !uriosity. /noing Chinese allos a freedom of movement through
their history.
2urther in the same vain, studying and %noing the Chinese !hara!ters is li%e
!hallenging a deeply fas!inating puCCle. 0nyone ith %noledge of Chinese has a!!ess
to Chinese art. *n fa!t, the !hara!ters themselves are a %ind of art. Calligraphy is an
an!ient art form and studying it is a %ind of art appre!iation. 2inally at the finan!ial end
of the spe!trum @@ the Chinese are getting ri!her and it is estimated that 366 million
people ill rea!h the middle !lass in the not so distant future. This middle !lass
represents the largest single !onsumer base ith a signifi!ant amount of money to
spend anyhere in the orld. 0ll those people ho are too laCy to learn Chinese are
going to need me or someone li%e me to !ommuni!ate ith these !ustomers. This
meanslearning Chinese presents a $ob opportunity for anyone ith the hereithal to
invest the time and effort into learning this beautiful language. But demand for my time
is groing and * might not have time to help you hi!h translates dire!tly into lost
opportunities for you, or more signifi!antly lost revenue. The easiest and most sensible
solution is to ta%e the time to learn the language.