subject: Mandarin a Hot Subject for Americas Students [print this page] Mandarin a Hot Subject for Americas Students
The US government has recently put forward several millions of dollars in educational grants to be used for teaching Mandarin in schools throughout America. A number of well established schools for students with above average learning abilities have introduced new Chinese language classes into their full time syllabus. In 2008 over 70 public and private high schools have a full time Chinese teacher instructing Mandarin at various levels. In fact it is becoming evident that Mandarin may soon push Spanish aside as the compulsory language of choice. The future plan is to start Chinese pinyin programs at kindergarten level and continue on until the fifth grade, after which the students will be allowed to choose their own learning path.
The reasons for the push to teach children to speak and write Mandarin are obvious. Person that acquires the knowledge of both English and the Chinese language will have a great advantage in the future global market. Chinas economy is currently running at full throttle and there is little doubt that it will soon become a major global power and an important part of many businesses, which is something that everyone should be preparing for. Mandarin is a complex language that uses a system of tones, sounds and characters that native English speakers will find difficult to comprehend at first. Due to the complexity of the language it is essential to begin to learn as early as possible.
For several years Chinese schools have been offering English to their students. English teachers have being flown in from native English speaking countries to teach in Chinese schools and universities. Seeing that they may be left behind the US has decided to follow suit and prepare its next generation for encounters with the Chinese language. This move involved recruiting native Chinese teachers and placing them in schools all over America. The new government grants have enabled schools with limited budgets to employ professional Chinese teachers, covering both their salary and living expenses.
In a gesture of shared progress and understanding a program called Confucius' sponsored by the Chinese government works on an idea of language exchange. A number of schools in New York who need a Mandarin course are matched with schools from within China. The matched schools swap language teachers for a term to share culture and linguistic ideas. Besides a real need for an improved level of Mandarin in the US, statistics given by ChineseTranslationPro.com shows that there has actually been a sudden surge in the amount of pupils wanting to learn Mandarin over Spanish. Some schools in the New York area who already hold a Mandarin speaking and writing course have received a surprising number of applications from students from other schools.
As Chinese slowly finds a place in many major world cities, you may find yourself having to learn the basics of this language at some point, especially if you are involved in an international business. For those only beginning to pick up Mandarin, but in need of translation for work or personal needs using an online service such as Chinese translation- Chinese to English Translation Company will help you translate important documents and even audio calls.
