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

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[quote=Anonymous]NP.  IMHO, most study of foreign languages is a waste of time.  Unless you happen to go into a field that uses the language regularly, you'll never be good enough to converse effectively enough for a business context.

As one anecdote, I was recently speaking to a US-born Latino lawyer from Miami, who grew up speaking primarily English, but also spoke Spanish to talk to his grandparents and other relatives (as well as others in Miami).  He told me how he had anticipated his fluency in English and Spanish would allow him to do all sorts of complex international work involving Central and South American legal issues.  What he discovered however is that while he's plenty fluent in conversational Spanish, he's nowhere near adept enough at legal/business/technical Spanish (not to mention the particular sub-dialects) to seamlessly move between cultures.  So while he still works in that area, and his Spanish helps, he always needs to associate himself with local lawyers and business people to be truly effective.

So I seriously doubt many of these Mandarin-learning children will get much utility out of their studies.  Maybe a tiny subset.  But for most, time would be better spent on other subjects.  In short, people should play to their natural strengths, not their natural weaknesses.  That said, I recognize my view may be a minority one.

Here's this podcast.  At least someone agrees with me, I guess.
http://freakonomics.com/2014/03/05/is-learning-a-foreign-language-really-worth-it-full-transcript/[/quote]

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