3 Reason Why You Should Learn Chinese
Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to tell you how China will become the strongest nation in the world. I don’t think it’s going to happen, but you should still learn Chinese.
Most of you already know the benefits of learning the Chinese language and feel a little tempted to learn. Why haven’t you started? Let me convince you briefly here. In my opinion, there are 3 most important reasons why you must learn the language. I know because I was born in China and grew up in North America. I received most of my education from western society but I felt that my Chinese root still needs to be kept. I am fluent in reading, writing, listening, and speaking both Mandarin and Cantonese. For starters I recommend learning how to speak Mandarin first. The reason why is that it is very similar to English and it is spoken by the majority of the Chinese population. I am not going to teach you Chinese here so let me give you the 3 reasons.
Reason #1: Everybody knows China has a booming economy. No matter where your business takes you in the future, you will have to deal with Chinese businesspeople at some point. For example, if you are selling something and you need a manufacturer in China, you are most likely be able to find a good one if you can communicate with them directly.
Reason #2: Chinese people are everywhere. Ever wonder what those guys are talking about beside you? If you can understand and speak Chinese, you have a big advantage. You can pretend you don’t know and keep listening to those secrets that pass by your ears everyday.
Reason #3: The Chinese language has incredible history, culture, and knowledge. The language is so powerful that a simple short poem written by Li Bai can change the way you view life. There are so much to learn from the language I believe it is the #1 foreign language you must learn in your lifetime.
If I didn’t convince you enough, it’s OK. I bet in the future you will hate yourself for not listening to me.
Have my posts delivered to you by email. Subscribe to my email feed now!
January 15th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I am interested in Chinese culture. I prefer to learn Mandarin Chinese<a .it sounds nice, it is the language which is spoken by most people. Besides, It is the language, which has potential to influence the future. http://www.hellomandarin.com
January 16th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Ah I see you are a fellow Chinese too.
Hello!
#2 You can pretend you don’t know and keep listening to those secrets that pass by your ears everyday.
This is one of the main reason for Chinese to learn and master their respective dialects.
Since more and more folks are learning Mandarin. Nowadays, there are many ang mohs / mat salleh who reads, writes, speaks Mandarin extremely well!
I am a Hock Chew by the way.
Where do you hail, Ronald?
Cheers!
Regards,
Deimos Tel`Arin
January 16th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
What is a Hock Chew? Is that your name? I live in Canada.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Hi Ronald Su!
Nah, my name is Deimos.
I live in Malaysia.
Hock Chew is a sub group of Chinese.
Chinese, generally, are known as Chinese.
But there are divided into several sub groups.
Say:
Chinese
- Cantonese
- Hokkien
- Hakka
- TeoChew
- HockChew
- HaiNan
etc
Like when you are playing Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, you have races, and then there are sub races.
i.e.
Elf
- Dark Elf
- Moon Elf
- Shadow Elf
- High Elf
etc
Human
- Tiefling
- Aasimar
etc
Get the picture?
Cheers!
January 16th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Wow. You seem to be very knowledgeable at this topic. Thank you for making it clear. You have a nice blog. Nice to meet you!
January 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I would LOVE to learn Chinese (and Russian and German) and I keep telling myself I will eventually before I retire to my traveling years but the years go by quickly.
I’m fluently English and french (written and spoken with no accent on either) and can hold my own with Spanish but living in SoCal there is simply nowhere convenient to go and learn on a tight schedule.
Trade ya some mandarin pour du Francais ?
Great blog btw - Jean Harris
January 21st, 2008 at 7:22 am
Hi Ronald,
Believe me you are right coz’ China will be the next superpower. A new era is in the verge to exist in the world market.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Hi!
Funny thing, I did try to learn Chinese way back but nothing gets stuck in my brain. Maybe I’m not just good with languages. But you’re right, if anybody has the money and will for it, Chinese and Spanish are great languages to learn.
Thanks. Great blog.
February 3rd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
You are right Rosli. Not sure if China becoming the next superpower is a good thing though.
Hi Bong. First learn how to say it first because mandarin is very similar to english in terms of pronunciation.