Reply to S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That's a remarkably blinkered view of the utility of learning.[/quote]
+1  Learning another language helps your brain work in different ways.  IMO, it shouldn't be just viewed for utilitarian purposes, ie, it will help me get ahead.  I studied French and speak another Asian dialect; my DH is from the UK, and he studied German, a bit of Spanish and French.  We found it a bit useful when we traveled abroad.  In school, learning about the culture was also a part of learning the language.

I would tell your kids to learn whatever language they want to learn, even if it's Latin, which is helpful for premed/prelaw.  It just makes you a more well-rounded person and exercises your brain in different ways, kind of like learning to play an instrument.[/quote]
That's a fine attitude if you're subscribing to the theory that learning a language is just good brain expansion.  If that's your view, a child could learn Klingon (for example) and get the same benefit.  And I agree that learning about different things is useful.  But personally, I'd imagine most children would get more out taking three years of an "international culture" course where they learn (in English) about the history, politics, and culture of another country (or countries), perhaps even with a little basic conversational work on the country's language, than they do taking a full-on language course for 3+ years.  
[b]
How much of your high school French/German/Spanish do you really remember now?  Not much, I bet.  Was it really worth 4 years of class time in high school?  Not IMHO.[/b][/quote]

About as much as I remember pre-calc, physics or biology. Why bother going to school at all? [/quote]

Don't know about you - I remember quite a bit, and still occasionally tap into the foreign language, pre-calc, physics and other stuff that I learned...[/quote]

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