Let's face it, knowing only one language just doesn't cut it anymore. Not in this globalized world of ours. And English may never make it as the number one international language, a title it has competing for with Chinese for years now. So what's one of the smartest business decisions you could make? Sure, learning French or Spanish is nice, but with the way China is busting out as a huge economic force in the global economy, those who learn Mandarin may have an enormous advantage.
If you're going to tackle learning Mandarin, why not study Mandarin in China? You'll meet the people, taste authentic Chinese food, visit amazing and diverse cities, and become a part of a culture that's been evolving for thousands of years.
Make More Than 1.1 Billion Friends
That's right-1.1 billion. That's how many people around the globe speak Mandarin. If you learn Mandarin abroad, you'll master a language that is spoken by nearly 20 percent of the world's population. If studying Mandarin abroad in China, Singapore or in Asia in general isn't your bag, perhaps you could enroll in a Mandarin study abroad program in Australia, where there is an initiative in place encouraging Australian students to begin learning the language in elementary school.
"Mandarin" Chinese is an English phrase, based on the northeastern dialect that China simply refers to as the standard language, or "Putonghua." Another dialect you may have heard of is Cantonese, but it's not the same thing. Mandarin is the cream of the crop, spoken by more than 50 percent of the huge Chinese population and serving as the official language of the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. It is also the second official language of Singapore, in case you were wondering. You may in fact decide to study Mandarin abroad in Singapore, where the government goes so far as to enforce its use.
Good News/Bad News
Guess what? Mandarin has no alphabet! Buuuut, it does have about, oh, 3,000 Chinese characters. And these Mandarin characters aren't just pretty pictures, they are collections of logographic symbols, of which there are more than 40,000. No, that's not a typo. And when you study Mandarin abroad, you'll learn all sorts of interesting things about these characters:
- They date back more than 4,000 years;
- Each character represents a single syllable which combines with others to create meaning;
- Characters may stand for a single syllable, but they can have abstract meaning, so be careful.
Guess what else? Mandarin verbs don't change form, so there'll be no need for convoluted conjugation. And as in English, Mandarin uses adverbs to help convey time of action. However, you've got to grasp the weird relationship between the written and spoken forms of the language:
- Written Mandarin language is known as "wen," while the spoken Mandarin language is "yu;"
- Written Mandarin word is referred to as "zi," while the spoken Mandarin word is called "hua;"
- All Chinese dialects share the same written language, but the spoken languages differ by region.
Learning to read and write Mandarin is more difficult than learning to speak it, due to all those characters. The hardest part about learning spoken Mandarin is mastering the pronunciation.
But fortunately, both are attainable if you work at it, and the rewords will be well worth the effort.
Mandarin Rules
Mandarin is known as a tonal language, and its four tones help distinguish words that have the same series of consonants and vowels but have different meanings. The four tones are:
- Level (dā), which sounds high and level;
- Rising (dá), which begins medium and then rises to the top;
- Falling (dâ), which begins low, dips to the bottom, then rises toward the top;
- High-rising (dà), which begins at the top, then falls dramatically to the bottom.
There's also technically a fifth tone, the neuter tone, or "da," which sounds flat. When you study Mandarin abroad, the first thing to understand is that you must pay close attention to the tone used-it could change the meaning of what you're saying. So save yourself some embarrassment and learn sound and meaning separately.
As you study Mandarin abroad and get to know it better, you'll notice that there are many differences between the Asian language and English. For example, singular and plural words are determined by the order of the sentence in Mandarin-there's no "-s" added to plurals as in English. But that's only one way in which the two languages part ways:
- Unlike in English, spoken Mandarin has no pronouns to determine the gender of subjects or objects;
- In Mandarin sentences, the verb comes at the end instead of in the middle like in English;
- Mandarin sentences are ended with commas instead of periods.
Translating between Mandarin and English can be quite difficult because of all of the differences between the two languages. When you study Mandarin abroad, you'll quickly learn this. So if you find a KFC while you study abroad in China, be careful when you say it's "finger-licking good." Your Chinese friends will hear you say "eat your fingers off!" The chicken can't be that good, no matter how homesick you may be!
Learning Mandarin is Pretty Smart
Aside from becoming bilingual, which is nearly a necessity these days, studying Mandarin abroad can benefit you in so many ways. You'll be able to see such wonders as the Great Wall of China, the Silk Road and Tiananmen Square. You'll see amazing architecture, inspired arts and crafts, and some really great shopping! But the other benefits aren't too shabby, either:
- China is poised to become the biggest player in Asia in terms of trade and tourism;
- Mandarin is the second language of more than 40 million people of Chinese descent around the world;
- You'll be learning a business language, as well as a language of pop culture and high Chinese culture.
Learning Mandarin abroad can also be a great way to learn the ancient art of calligraphy, which is written in four beautiful styles: seal, cursive, clerical and standard scripts. Plus, if you have any relatives from China, you'll be able to connect with them better than ever before. And bet you didn't know that San Francisco is home to the second-largest population of Chinese speakers outside of China!
Besides, it's the most widely-spoken language in the entire world-what better reason could there possibly be to study Mandarin abroad?
Let's face it, knowing only one language just doesn't cut it anymore. Not in this globalized world of ours. And English may never make it as the number one international language, a title it has competing for with Chinese for years now. So what's one of the smartest business decisions you could make? Sure, learning French or Spanish is nice, but with the way China is busting out as a huge economic force in the global economy, those who learn Mandarin may have an enormous advantage.