Crazy for Mandarin

With the explosive growth of China as an economic power the skills for Mandarin Chinese are now in high demand and parents are paying high salaries for Chinese nannies to teach their children...

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Chinese
• Mandarin
• Language

[JenovaXiu]

My grandfather spoke Mandarin and Cantonese, hehe then again he was chinese.

[TheHorsesMouth]

I know Americans who speak Mandarin and Cantonese, obviously they're not Chinese. So what's your point?

[JenovaXiu]

No point, just making conversation.

[TheHorsesMouth]

Ok. Just thought I was missing something.

[Barryms0083]

chinese is really hard to learn. I am glad that i am a native chinese speaker.

[cmmndrblu]

English is pluricentric but symmetrical. Also all English dialects are mutually intelligible. Chinese has a pluricentric writing system, but many "dialects" are not mutually intelligible, and while politically referred to as "dialects" from a linguistic point of view, they are seperate languages, albeit from the same language family. Saying a Cantonese person should understand Mandarin is like saying English people should be able to understand German.

[cc91801]

correct

[1daitetomohisa]

most people in china speak mandarin even if they have their own dialects in their regions... in school kids learn mandarin.

[Renaissancedehuaxia]

Smart man.

Check out the economic time horizon of China in 2013. Then in 2018, and 2025. Incredible opportunities!

But then again, America will always have an edge in technological time horizon for at least another 30 years.

[aiwozhonghua]

nope only about 30% of mainland Chinese doesn't speak Mandarin.

[anbncejksg]

depends on the source, between 60%-70%. the statistics represent mainland chinese speaking mandarin as "their native language" (wiki). i'm assuming native language means 1st language. mandarin is also being promoted as the official language in china, inclu. provinces where mandarin has traditionally not been the local dialect. mainland chinese kids are required to learn mandarin from the elementary level. 100% of current graduates of mainland chinese universities are fluent in it.

[anbncejksg]

you're exaggerating. cantonese & mandarin are both chinese dialects. while it isn't uncommon for a cantonese speaker who didn't learn mandarin in school or have no or limited exposure to mandarin to misunderstand some words (70%?), the 2 are still derived from a common language. common words such as mother, father, etc. are still recognizable in a sentence w/o a translator, even for ppl who learned to speak cantonese as a 2nd language.

[anbncejksg]

advanced education = 6+ years. education cost a lot in the US & tuition is constantly rising. if the payoff isn't big, no sane american would pay U.S. universities their entire year's salary for 6+yrs. everything in the U.S. cost $, $60-$100K isn't really a lot. there may not be insurance involved. giving birth in a private hospital w/o insurance for a couple hrs. = $--,---.--. a major city like chicago charges 30% tax for bottled h2o, a gal of h20 costing $3.00 = $0.90 tax =$3.90/gal=$1K-2k/yr.

[anbncejksg]

upbringing can contribute to one's accent. mandarin may not have been his 1st language.