Contents:Top 10 Reasons to Learn ChineseTop 10 Excuses to Not Learn Chinese& ResponsesJoke on being monolingualWhat if they Don't Learn Chinese?It's Become Easier for Kids to Learn ChineseChildBook's Hope
Top 10 Reasons to Learn Chinese!
1. China is emerging from a period of stagnation and again taking it's place as one of the great powers of the world. China currently has the second largest economy in the world. To take advantage of this huge economic shift and opportunities,learning to speak Chineseis a great way to give your children an advantage in the increasingly competitive business world. Between equal foreign competitors courting a Chinese company, who will the company choose to associate with: a Chinese-speaking foreigner or a foreigner with a translator?
2. China has become thefactory of the worldand is moving up the technology food chain. Look at the balance of trade between the US and China. Per Nobel Prize Winner Robert MundellChina will become the factory of the world, in my opinion it already has. Now products are built, as well as designed in China. 3. China is a huge export market for the US.1/5th of the world's population lives in China. Overseas Chinese dominate the economies of many countries in Asia, andspeaking Mandarin gives you an edge in doing businesswith them. Countries with large overseas Chinese populations include Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. China has become one of the largest trading partners with the US. Over 16,000 US companies sell products in China.Trade is not only from China to the US, but also the other way. $41.8 Billion in 2006. 4. The world is becoming a global economy. Per a famous book, the world is becoming flat so communication, ideas, and goods are traveling faster and faster between countries including the US and China. Learning Chinese gives you the opportunity to take advantage of this change. It's a great ice breaker when working with people from China if you can say a few words in Chinese. This helps especially when dealing with business people on the other side of the world via conference call. 5. Chinese has become very useful in government. The Austrian Prime Minister,Kevin Ruddis fluent in Mandarin Chinese.. The US Treasury Secretary,Timothy Geitnerstudied Chinese and attended Beijing University. The former Utah Governor, now Ambassador to China,Jon Huntsmanis fluent in Chinese (he learned it as a missionary in Taiwan and has an adopted child from China). 6. Chinese culture is over 5000 years old. By learning the Chinese Language, Chinese you willlearn another culture. Learning a language gives you a better understanding through the grammar and even how the words are derived of the culture behind them. There is a lot ofChinese Poetrythat lose some meaning when translated. 7. Learning another language gives you another viewpoint. When a child uses a word, this word also triggers associations in the brain, brought about by the other languages the child knows. Maybe this is why it seems people who know languages seem smarter. The numerous mental associations playing in their brain, opens new ideas. It also helps as people age. I once had a fun talk with a programmer explaining how learning a new computer language helped keep his mind fresh.At the very least, it will help you when ordering Chinese food. 8. Learning Chinese will give a student a competitive advantage. Chinese is the fastest growing Foreign Language being taught in US schools. I like Mayor Daly's quote: "We want to give our young people opportunities to advance ... and [Chinese] is a great opportunity to survive in today's economy." Students can get higher grades in when they take Chinese subjects in school because they started early at home. 9. Mandarin Chinese is themost taught foreign language after English in Japan. If the Japanese are learning it, shouldn't people in the US?The Japanese have a sharp scent on who or what is arriving. Mandarin Chinese is the most used language on the Internet. 10. Family and Community- If you have relatives who don't speak English, but only Chinese, it's so great to be able to speak with them in Chinese. If you also live within a Chinese community, it's nice to be able to relate to neighbors and friends speaking their language. I can't tell you how proud my wife is that my daughter got selected to be the announcer this year for her Chinese Choir! There arebig Chinese communities all over the world. Whether for business or to establish personal ties, knowing the language is not only useful, but endears you to people you want to connect to. As adulthood rolls in and the need for knowing Chinese becomes crucial, hopefully children will tell their parents "Thank you for taking the time and effort to have me learn Chinese." Ready to start? Browse Learning Chinese Materialsnow. Top Ten Excuses for not Learning ChineseWe are native speakers, but our kids refuse to speak Chinese! They refuse to speak to us in Chinese, and want McDonalds to eat!
Some Children, unfortunately, who have native speaking Chinese parents, refuse tolearn Chinese. This is often done in the teenager years as a method of defiance and establish their power as they become adults. With defiance issues at that age, consider sending them to a full immersion environment. Our daughter was starting tospeak Chinesewith English Grammar, which frustrated my wife. The more frustrated my wife became, the less my daughter spoke Chinese. My daughter got to spend a summer with cousins in Taiwan, and nobody would speak English to her. Within a day, she was even speaking some Taiwanese, not to mention the Mandarin Chinese. I am so worried about my kids Learning English and Learning Chinese will hurt their English.
The truth is scientific studies have shown thatchildren have an amazing ability to learn more than one language, such as Chinese.If you are a native born speaker, have one parent speak only English and the other Chinese. This way the kids are forced to learn and speak both. My wife speaks Mandarin Chinese to our daughter and I English, and it's worked out great. We have not had the issue of having her mix up the English and Chinese. Their is so much English in the US, especially when they start school, that not getting enough English is not an issue. I have seen students who only speak Chinese at home, start public school and become the best in their class at English and want to become a writer. They are also taking Chinese as their foreign language in High School. Kids have an amazing ability to Learn a foreign language, as long as they are given the opportunity. It's easier to just speak English to their kids. Why rock the boat and they are doing so well academically anyway!
Kids have an ability to quickly learn a second language without an accent that adults don't. There are so many adults I have met who are learning Chinese in College. It would have been a great favor if their parents had them learn Chinese when they were younger. Learning Chinese is a waste of time and is too hard!
Some US born Children and even their native parents believe this. There are many reasons on why to Learn to Speak Chinese. Studies have shown that being truly bilingual can help a child develop their brain in new ways and make it easier to learn other languages. As well as understanding the Chinese cultures better, such as why the number 8 is a lucky number in Mandarin, and 4 is not. It's not fun like other studies in the US!
Usually kids have this belief.And it takes time away from their other studies and video games. Usually parents think their children have better things to do, and everybody knows English anyway around the world! Learning Chinese Characters is too hard. There is Learning Chinese Software and some great books that make learning Chinese characters easier. Neither my wife or I speak Chinese! There is no native speaker at home. Many parents are finding online tutors to help them. They are also hiring tutors to visit them. Some parents are even learning Chinese with their kids. Many curriculum and other Learning Chinese tools are specifically designed for non native language learners of Chinese. I am worried about my kids hating my guts when they grow older for forcing them to Learn Chinese. It's important to work with your kids so they are not being forced to Learn Chinese, but actually enjoy learning it. Picking the right curriculum that matches their learning style is very important. I don't have Time! We have Piano, Soccer, and more! Time management is always a challenge with young kids. Prioritization and asking your self, and I doing the right work. Creating a weekly schedule and a dedicated time for Learning Chinese helps. Doing a time sheet for a few weeks to see where you time goes can also help. By starting a foreign language early, you will actually be helping your child in high school to give them more time, instead of learning a foreign language from scratch. I have no idea where to buy Learning Chinese Materials from!
I can help there.ChildBook.com has a full range of Learning Chinese materials. And lots of free advice and tips are available!Being bilingual in Chinese will only help your child:Being bilingual gives your child moreopportunities! And by knowing a second culture, they can also relate better to other people. By planting these seeds today, our children are more likely to become the productive, well-rounded future citizens we are hoping they will turn out to be. With your support, now is the best time for your children to learn Mandarin Chinese.Your commitment now will truly give them an advantage later on.Ready to start? Browse Learning Chinese Materialsnow. Joke I used when I was teaching ESL: What is a person who knows three languages? - trilingual. What is a person who knows two languages? - bilingual. What is a person who knows only one language?- American. It's a joke that though funny on the surface, it does make you think. My ESL student loved the joke once I explained it to them (humor often does not translate).
And if Kids don't Learn Chinese? What happens if they want to do business in that Giant Market, Full of Opportunities, China? 1. If they have Chinese-speaking parents, will they bring the parents in to transact business for them? 2. Will they do business using their Kindergarten-Level Chinese with accent? 3. Or take classes in Chinese as an adult? Hopefully, they won't have an American accent. Will they ask their parents, "Why did you not force me to learn Chinese? It would have helped me so much now!" Or are they lucky that their parents took the time to read themChinese booksas children andspoke to them in Chinese, knowing they would learn English at school anyway, and they now speak Chinese like a native? Or perhaps they had one parent who spoke to them only in English, and another in Mandarin Chinese. Or their parents don t speak Mandarin, but sent their kids to Chinese School to learn or other methods. You don t need to have Chinese speaking parents to Learn Chinese. It's become Easier For Kids to Learn Chinese!Learning Chinesehas become easier.ChildBook.com offers products for Children to learn Chinese from DVDs tobooks with songsespecially designed to helpteach Chinese for non native speakers. A recent addition was a series oftextbooks, workbooks, and CDscalled Practical Chinese that is also calledThe Effective Way of Learning Reading, Writing, and Speaking Chineseas well asfree fun stuff for Children for Learning Chinesesuch as coloring picturesand game instructions.More and more school districts are adding Chinese Programs. Childbook's Chinese School finder can help.ChildBook's Hope: We hope that parents take the time and effort to have theirkids Learn Chinese. The best time for Children to learn another language is before puberty, so they speak like a native and learn very easy. We providequality books, CDs, and DVDs and other items that are fun and educational for helping children learn moreabout theChinese Language and Culture. We offer these materials both for children who have native speakers in the family, as well for those whose parents don't speak Chinese. As parents and also as owners of ChildBook.com, we have made the commitment for our child to bebrought up bilingual, learning both English and Mandarin. We feel this ability will help our child in the long term, so our child can make the most of the opportunities that life presents. How about you? Help add opportunities for your child,start with Chinese today Why it's important to Learn to Speak Chinese and some of the reasons or excuses that people have for not learning Chinese. Feedback is appreciated. Learning a foreign language such as Chinese is a big decision and it's important to pick the right foreign language。
