Language education. Chinese vs. French and German
 

Last week I had the pleasure of talking with a retired French teacher here in the Villages. She told me that where she was from some of the French and German teachers were having trouble getting jobs because of a mandate that Chinese be taught at these schools.

In my own educational history, I tried studying Mandarin Chinese for a month or so at the University of Minnesota but could not get the tones which are a very important part to communicating in the Chinese language. Check the 4 tones for the Chinese word(s) ma. http://mandarin.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/tones.htm These 4 tones with ma could mean-- mother, hemp, scold, or horse.

So, you could have your horse scolding you rather than your mother if you do not get the Mandarin tones for ma right.

I can see the value of kids learning Chinese but unlike say French or Spanish it is very difficult to learn because of just how different it is from English. German is more difficult but still seems very relevant in certain parts of the country.

This is the first I have heard about this problem so I do not know very much about it. I do not know, for instance, if French and German teachers are having problems getting jobs in other parts of the country.

The kids better get ready to start learning how to bow to their comrades also. Spenders in DC are seeing to that.

When we lived in Hong Kong we had a Dutch friend who spoke four languages fluently. She tried to learn Mandarin, but gave up. I remember she talked about the different tone levels. I can barely speak english on a good day so I didn't even try. lol

Am I correct in saying that in China it is mandated to learn English ?

Does anyone remember back in the 1980s when we thought we were all going to have to learn Japanese in order to communicate with our forthcoming Japanese overlords who were going to buy our country?

No but I remember my Spanish instructor telling me that Spanish was going to be the 2nd language in the USA (I'm sure I rolled my eyes)

I grew up in "Spanish Harlem" in Manhattan and I don't remember ever not hearing spanish spoken. I never did pick it up though, because when I was young every Spanish family knew their children had to be fluent in english to be successful in their new home. and so they insisted on it. All my schoolmates spoke real well, while their parents had obvious accents. It was all pretty normal.

I spent the summer of 67 as a messenger for a law firm in Manhattan. Had an apartment on East 96th. A new world for a Virginia boy. Lots of the guys from the mail room were from Spanish Harlem. Great guys, use to laugh like hell at my ya'lls and yes sirs/no sirs.

Joy.
 

I supervised a beautiful married Chinese law student's work while at the U of MN Law Library named Joy. That was her English name; I never really got her Chinese one. This was in a reclassification project of various books. Basically, just changing the Call Numbers.

She said that in China students are picked for whatever role they might play in their society rather young. The gifts-- education being one of them-- are given to those who merit them at a very young age. She got to learn English very young. This was back in 1988-1989 that I supervised Joy. I do not know what China society would be like today.

Joy was on the fast track probably before she was 10. She learned English and the like very young because much was expected of her.

I doubt if their society back then would bother teaching English to anyone not in some position later on to use it.

Hi Tal,
I had not heard about this, so I Googled the question and found this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/ed...21chinese.html

According to the article, many public schools dropped foreign language classes in the past decade. Then a second trend emerged in which schools began offering Chinese language classes, in part because the Chinese government is sending teachers all over the world to teach Chinese, and offering to pay part of these teachers' salaries.

That's an eye opener. Thanks for raising the issue.

You are welcome.

That's an interesting article, Pturner.

The retired French teacher I spoke to last week is from Ohio!

This does seem to be an issue that TOTVers could do something about by writing their State and Federal Representatives to see what is happening with foreign language education in Florida as well as in other states.

AOL did have a method of easily writing your US Congressmen and women. Have not used it for a while though. I got a little overzealous with my various causes and got kicked off of AOL a few times. So, I kind of steer away from it.

I did find this though-- http://www.ehow.com/how_5915001_writ...al-letter.html