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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hope that immersion programs are not just a fad, but my gut tells me it is. I'd love to see a study that tracks YY students to see if they are truly bilingual five years after graduation. I know that China is super important because they are such a financial and military power and they are heavily invested in the USA (buying our debt, etc.) but I honestly can't imagine it being all that useful to be bilingual in Chinese. More power to those families who commit to learning Chinese...[b]I just have the suspicion that when all is said and done learning Chinese in 2012 will be looked back on they way that Japanese became a fad in the 1980s[/b]. Spanish immersion, I understand more...more useful on a day to day basis in the States. [/quote]
Learning Japanese was a fad in the 1980s, and it's true that Japan never took over the US economy the way that many folks expected, but that does not mean that learning Japanese was useless.  I'm in finance, and my colleguaes who know even basic Japanese have a huge leg up over those who don't.  Although Japan's overall economy has been in sad shape for over a decade, some of the world's largest companies are still headquartered there.  I predict something similar regarding China.  I can readily believe that the average American won't need even a scrap of Mandarin 30 years from now, but there will be US industries and corporate departments where familiarity with Mandarin will make an employee that much more valuable.  [/quote]

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