Anonymous wrote:China is a world power.
French is pretty useless now, but Spanish will continue to be help, since a significant minority in this country speak it.

Russian and Arabic are also good to learn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:China is a world power.
French is pretty useless now, but Spanish will continue to be help, since a significant minority in this country speak it.

Russian and Arabic are also good to learn.

China's not a world power. Give me a break.

Anonymous wrote:China is a world power.
French is pretty useless now, but Spanish will continue to be help, since a significant minority in this country speak it.

Russian and Arabic are also good to learn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a remarkably blinkered view of the utility of learning.

+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.

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.

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.

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

Anonymous wrote: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.


No I agree with you whole heartedly as well.
http://freakonomics.com/2014/03/05/is-learning-a-foreign-language-really-worth-it-full-transcript/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
does it annoy you when schools teache instrument/choir instead of science?

Nope, because at least at my kids' schools, those are treated as extras meeting once a week, maybe twice. Language is a more intensive exercise.

So you're against foreign language not Mandarin/Chinese?

Yes, my criticism applies to all foreign language study, not just Mandarin, although it is particularly applicable to Mandarin. As made clear in other posts, I'm not "against" foreign language, but rather critical of the mandated time spent on learning foreign languages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a remarkably blinkered view of the utility of learning.

+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.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who attends a Mandarin immersion school. He is currently in elementary school but when he is in high school, he will intern at a billion+ hedge fund. We are good friends with the founder.

Our kid shows excellent math ability and the Mandarin will be an asset. We will encourage him to take Latin and French too in middle school.

Bless your heart, already lining up ths hedge fund internship for your 3 yr old! I think you just won DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who attends a Mandarin immersion school. He is currently in elementary school but when he is in high school, he will intern at a billion+ hedge fund. We are good friends with the founder.

Our kid shows excellent math ability and the Mandarin will be an asset. We will encourage him to take Latin and French too in middle school.

Bless your heart, already lining up ths hedge fund internship for your 3 yr old! I think you just won DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who attends a Mandarin immersion school. He is currently in elementary school but when he is in high school, he will intern at a billion+ hedge fund. We are good friends with the founder.

Our kid shows excellent math ability and the Mandarin will be an asset. We will encourage him to take Latin and French too in middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just asked my brother who is a VP at Wall Street firm re: Chinese. He said while everyone does speak English, he has taken business Chinese to assist him in his work.

He also said whoever said you don't need Chinese in business is a "fucktard" <---- his words.

Your brother uses the word "fucktard" and somehow holds down a VP position at a Wall Street firm? Where does he work, a boiler room?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That would surprise me too. The frogs get all pissy if you don’t speak their language perfectly - and none of us are going to be able to do that. A few well chosen phrases can do wonders with the ladies, however.

My experience has been that they appreciate your effort to speak French, however imperfectly.

Then they respond to you in English anyway.

Anonymous wrote:
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?