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][quote]Seems like there have been several threads recently about elementary school kids taking Mandarin or other Chinese dialects.

I'm having a hard time understanding why anyone would want to do that unless they have some family or cultural connection to China. It just doesn't seem like a particularly useful language to know unless you plan to live there some day. It'll never be the language of business, for instance. So, what's the appeal, exactly?[/quote]

Why study French, German, or Spanish for that matter?  Doesn't seem particularly useful to know.[/quote]

Well, French is a language of diplomacy.

Mandarin will only ever be used in China. Yes, it's a huge market -- [b]but like I said, is usefulness is limited[/b],unless you're going to go live and work there.[/quote]

this is so dumb and ill-informed. [b]How many people right in this area speak Mandarin on a daily basis?[/b] - I know dozens of them. [/quote]

A fractionally minuscule amount.[/quote]

Obviously a fraction, since not everybody speaks Mandarin. But if you want to speak to the people right here in this area who speak Mandarin, then knowing how to speak Mandarin is useful.

In any case, it's an odd argument. If you want to know why somebody without family or cultural origins in China would study Mandarin, why not ask somebody without family or cultural origins in China who is studying Mandarin?[/quote]

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