The Economist says Learning Mandarin is a Waste of Time

According to The Economist, Chinese may be a fad for misguided fools. The tonal intricacies and delicate inflections of the Tang tongue are too much for those more accustomed to the Romance languages.

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Hao'd by brightbrook 40 weeks 5 days ago – Made popular 39 weeks 6 days ago
Category: Learning Chinese Tags:

language

Vincent

40 weeks 5 days 12 hours 13 min ago

Oh Christ, what a load of bunk.

Oh Christ, what a load of bunk. As someone who teaches High School students to kids who have been studying English for 6 or 7 years I can pretty assertively say that the compulsory English Education amounts to squat, as one main ingredient for language learning is missing on a large majority of the students: motivation. Saying we don't have to learn Chinese is as ridiculous as saying Mexicans in Minnesota don't have to learn English because most students there are studying Spanish. Jeez.

This just is another variation of the unbearably arrogant "Why bother, they're learning our language anyways!" BS that people say about every non-English speaking country on the planet.

Ryan

40 weeks 4 days 21 hours 50 min ago

Well said Vincent.

youlai

40 weeks 4 hours 24 min 47 sec ago

I have seen foreigners in China

I have seen foreigners in China who worked there successfully without Chinese language skills. But to me, learning Chinese is worth the efforts. What Vincent says about motivation is the key. If the learned proficiency helps people with their career - so much the better. But fascination with the language and the places where it is spoken should come first.

Dragonhorse

39 weeks 6 days 16 hours 20 min ago

This is a crock. THere is utility

This is a crock. THere is utility in learning Mandarin. I agree, writing is a beast, but learning to speak is much easier for an English speaker than learning a Slavic langauge for instance. The grammar is far less.

Ryan

39 weeks 6 days 12 hours 13 min ago

Everything the lack of Chinese

Everything the lack of Chinese grammar gives, the tones and writing taketh away.

Jeremy

39 weeks 5 days 10 hours 51 min ago

While learning Chinese it has its

While learning Chinese it has its benefits (being able to get around easily, a great girlfriend I wouldn't have ever really gotten to know otherwise, being able to understand meetings whether they are held in Chinese or English), there are things that are being under-emphasized in this discussion:

* There are a lot of well educated Chinese workers who would rather speak English with you - the higher their position in the organization, the more likely they would prefer to speak English to you if you have a white face (even if your Chinese is better than their English). Learning Chinese allows you to interact with management at all levels - knowing English allows you to interact with management at at least the higher levels.

*Personally, working and using Chinese in my job is necessary, but it is only because I work largely at lower levels. It's only real utility in terms of work is this. If you are a mid level manager or up who is not stationed in China, Chinese is largely useless from a work standpoint.

*The point that the article makes is the opportunity cost to learning Chinese - and I totally agree. I know my Chinese is gradually degrading thanks to not enough effort per day (despite having to work with the language, reading a Chinese newspaper, and talking pretty much exclusively in Chinese with gf). Chinese is a bear of a language, and always will be no matter how good you get at it (the cost in time in just maintenance is too large). There are far better ways to spend your time if you are trying to make more money.

Here's a quote from the article that pretty much sums it up:

Within China companies can hire an expatriate who speaks Chinese. Or, more often, they take their pick from an abundant supply of local graduates in English who are happy to work for 2,000 yuan (£130) a month. “I took an 80% pay cut to come here because I wanted to learn the language,” says Ken Schulz, a software engineer from Silicon Valley who studied Chinese full-time for four years at Beijing's University of Language and now works in the capital at WorkSoft, an outsourcing firm. “I'm the only foreigner in an office of 1,200 people, and I hardly get any opportunity to use my Chinese.”

shanx24

39 weeks 4 days 1 hour 19 min ago

The comment from Jeremy has it

The comment from Jeremy has it spot on. I think most of the earlier comments on this page are based on people's Pavlovian response to an article that sounds politically incorrect. Have you even read The Economist piece? It makes all the sense in the world for the point it seeks to make.

China is undergoing early but swift stages of what happened in its powerful neighbor, Japan, just a few decades ago. If you wanted to work in *Japanese companies* you needed to learn Japanese, period.

But even in Japan, even today, the interesting paradox is that if you do NOT speak Japanese and are working for a global organization, you may in fact get more respect reserved for the 'other worldly' charm. It is also a cosy excuse to make a lot of friends who need to help you with your forms, bills, all other living paraphernalia. This doesn't apply if you are working in a Japanese company of course, but that brings us to the next point:

To this date, a huge fraction of Japan doesn't speak English. College students don't speak it either. Girls chuckle and josh in Japanese when you try to speak in English with them. The English-language business is tremendously popular so I'm not sure what happens to all those people who're its students. Either they're colossally lousy pupils, or they just don't care to learn enough, because the business doesn't require it.

The Chinese by contrast are learning English by leaps and bounds. Yes, taxi drivers and veggie vendors may not speak English yet (some of them do, however, in bigger cities) but the professional circles are very international and in fact prefer to speak in English with you.

This makes China quite a different ballgame altogether. Unlike France or Japan, which get jingoistic about their culture and will up their nose and snort if necessary in order to keep their heritage close to their chests, China is a lot more flexible and welcoming these days because it has seen a big bright light at the end of decades-long tunnel.

As to the generic argument of learning a language, whatever country you live in, there are many ancillary benefits to learning the local language. No Doubt. It helps in day to day life. One commenter talked about Slavic languages. Sure, they may be difficult in grammar, but they don't have 60,000 characters in the alphabet to be sure.

The point of The Economist piece is to question whether people who're spending three to four years of full time study to learn the language by rote (and hardly ever getting to the level of a local who's studied it all through his childhood) may be wasting time and effort.

Chinese as a composite language has over 60,000 characters. Even the most technical newspapers touch a maximum of about 35,000 in their lifetime, but you need to know these to understand the literature. And most people probably use less than 5,000 in day to day life.

With those statistics, I'd contend that The Economist makes a very good point. In a few years, Chinese businessmen and diplomats will be very global with the rise of an optimistic, well-educated, worldly minded young generation and the learning of Chinese, while great for some lifestyle conveniences, may hardly be required.

youlai

39 weeks 3 days 23 hours 40 min ago

Talking about the article itself,

Talking about the article itself, its criticism of the Chinese-language hype is indeed about learning Chinese as an "investment" into your career. They sure have a point there, but that isn't what most of the more critical comments here criticise about it. Even the article's last line is still how (not) to make money of the skill. That is somewhat narrow-minded, even for a paper whose focus IS on the economy.
Another bit of warning, if people think speaking Chinese will save their lives... A professor from Hong Kong, Carsten A. Holz, warns that exactly this attitude may make eloquent sinologists vulnerable for blackmailing by Chinese authorities:
http://www.feer.com/articles1/2007/0704/free/p036.html
He is an economist, by the way.
I still believe that it is right to learn Chinese - IF you want to do so for more than only economic reasons.