Anonymous
Post 01/25/2017 12:05     Subject: Re:S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Anonymous wrote:Encourage your kids to be strong in English and to cultivate good communication platform skills. This coupled with logos people skills is all you need.


For their personal achievement, that is probably all your kids need to do.

However, as english speaking only nations, the US and UK are suffering from being monolingual.
https://www.ft.com/content/223af71a-d853-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2017 19:46     Subject: Re:S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Encourage your kids to be strong in English and to cultivate good communication platform skills. This coupled with logos people skills is all you need.
Anonymous
Post 01/20/2017 10:07     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Anonymous wrote:Chinese language programs around the country are seeing significant declines in interest and enrollment. Now that we are about 15 years into the "China will rule the world" fad it looks like people are finally realizing Mandarin is not so essential to their (or their kids') success in life. I don't consider Stanford students to be isolationist or disinterested in the world so I think it telling that enrollments are so low.

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/01/18/beijing-study-abroad-program-suspended-indefinitely/

"Stanford has announced that due to low enrollment, it will be indefinitely suspending its undergraduate overseas studies program in Beijing at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year.

This decision comes just months after the University’s consolidation of both the Chinese and Japanese majors and minors into one East Asian Studies program; both changes were made due to low interest and enrollment.

The Beijing program, which allows undergraduate students to study at Peking University, one of China’s leading research institutes, was established in 2004. Enrollment, which was high at first and able to fill the 20 to 30 slots each year, steadily declined over time. Last spring, only eight students participated in the program....."


It reminds me of when I was in high school the big craze to have students learn Japanese or Russian.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2017 15:06     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Chinese language programs around the country are seeing significant declines in interest and enrollment. Now that we are about 15 years into the "China will rule the world" fad it looks like people are finally realizing Mandarin is not so essential to their (or their kids') success in life. I don't consider Stanford students to be isolationist or disinterested in the world so I think it telling that enrollments are so low.

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/01/18/beijing-study-abroad-program-suspended-indefinitely/

"Stanford has announced that due to low enrollment, it will be indefinitely suspending its undergraduate overseas studies program in Beijing at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year.

This decision comes just months after the University’s consolidation of both the Chinese and Japanese majors and minors into one East Asian Studies program; both changes were made due to low interest and enrollment.

The Beijing program, which allows undergraduate students to study at Peking University, one of China’s leading research institutes, was established in 2004. Enrollment, which was high at first and able to fill the 20 to 30 slots each year, steadily declined over time. Last spring, only eight students participated in the program....."
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2015 14:07     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
http://top101news.com/2015-2016-2017-2018/news/society/largest-economies-world/

China is currently the second biggest economy in the world after the USA. Knowing Mandarin is an advantage if you are a lawyer, banker, manufacturing, etc.

But just knowing Mandarin is not going to get you a job without additional skills unless you want to be an English teacher in China.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2015 11:04     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Disagree on French. In my world, its probably tied with English as the universal language.


Is this the French obsession with linguistic dominance again? sorry, in the real world, English has decisively trumped French as the dominant world language.


Africa and the Middle East
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2015 16:27     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
there was an article somewhere that the in terms of just making money, english speakers who become fluent in German are in the highest paid professions. While German is limited, its safe to assume if you speak German you are dealing in finance, high level manufacturing, environment/sustainable design etc. So French and Spanish may be more useful in terms of the volume of speakers but many of those jobs are in international aid and therefore not paying as well. I really dont have a dog in this fight, I took 7 years of spanish and cant speak it at all. My In laws are German though and I would love my daughter to learn but no DCPS/Charter charter schools offer German any longer which is unfortunate.
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2015 21:48     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Disagree on French. In my world, its probably tied with English as the universal language.


Is this the French obsession with linguistic dominance again? sorry, in the real world, English has decisively trumped French as the dominant world language.


so obviously true it’s to even worth discussing. I meet a few frogs here and there in my travels, (like in Asia). It must piss them off when they are forced to speak English, but they have to if they want to get anywhere and be understood by the locals. They do speak frog amongst themselves, however.


not
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2015 21:45     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Disagree on French. In my world, its probably tied with English as the universal language.


Is this the French obsession with linguistic dominance again? sorry, in the real world, English has decisively trumped French as the dominant world language.


so obviously true it’s to even worth discussing. I meet a few frogs here and there in my travels, (like in Asia). It must piss them off when they are forced to speak English, but they have to if they want to get anywhere and be understood by the locals. They do speak frog amongst themselves, however.
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2015 21:42     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
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.


Disagree on French. In my world, its probably tied with English as the universal language.


what world is this?
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2015 21:31     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
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.


Disagree on French. In my world, its probably tied with English as the universal language.


Is this the French obsession with linguistic dominance again? sorry, in the real world, English has decisively trumped French as the dominant world language.
Anonymous
Post 07/20/2015 20:34     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
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.


this has got to be a troll comment, Nobody could be that stupid, right?

China is asserting its military might and has hundreds of years of grievances, some legitimate (read a history of the opium wars and trade). They just surpassed the U.S. in market size, and their resources and power will continue to expand -- which is why it historical rivals are nervous,
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2015 18:30     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Learning another language and practicing it when you're an adult keeps the neural connections going and may help stave off Alzheimer's. I speak 3 languages and it's amazing how there's a word for a feeling or concept in one language but not in another. It also makes you great at crossword puzzles and scrabble (maybe not mandarin though).
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2015 18:28     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
Worth reading for those banking on Chinese as the next key skill. Probably the best summary of the situation i have ever read:

http://benross.net/wordpress/ok-so-i-learned-chinese%E2%80%A6now-why-can%E2%80%99t-i-find-a-job/2009/11/17/
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2015 17:37     Subject: S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?
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.


Disagree on French. In my world, its probably tied with English as the universal language.