Brexit aside, I don’t think many British people are interested in European culture either. We do seem to have a little islander mentality. I’m definitely more interested in American culture and history (young history that it is) than I am in any country in Europe outside Britain. I’m not saying that’s the case for everyone, but I’d imagine it’s the majority, especially since a massive majority here only speak English. I’ve gotten interested in Spanish culture and history to some extent, but only because I’m learning the language, it’s not something I deliberately pursued from the outset.
I actually think I’d be more interested in learning about Chinese culture since it’s so far removed from anything we know, exotic, if you like. That can spark a lot of people’s interest, curiosity of the unknown.
I think I’d be more motivated to learn Mandarin than Spanish but I weighed it up and I didn’t feel confident of learning Mandarin as my first foreign language. Of all the easier languages for an English speaker I was most interested in Spanish, but if I had bigger balls, and more confidence in my ability to stick to it, I’d probably be learning Mandarin instead. Maybe once I get to a decent level in Spanish, I might consider it.
As far as native English speakers learning Mandarin goes, I can’t see it happening, so long as America remains the world’s superpower (or one of them), combined with their popular culture, and ours to some extent, there will never be enough motivation for most people. There would have to be a dramatic decline in American influence for that to happen. Plus it’d be extremely difficult for native English speakers to start learning Mandarin on mass, most people in native English speaking countries even find it tough to speak languages that are very close to their own.
I actually had trouble with German… I think it might be because they have the verb at the end which is the same in japanese so maybe that made it easier for you… but SOV languages are always the most difficult for me for some reason. But yea pronunciation is straightforward and words are not that difficult… but the grammar is frustrating. So many articles coming at you and cases and rules I never know whats up.
Chinese thought, it’s just so different. All the consonant sounds like the zh, gh, zhr qu xui’s and so forth are tricky to hear with the tones… Making the connection from that into a language will take a long time.
“We do not need to fear the Chinese,” he[Boris Johnson] said. “China will not dominate the globe. We do not need to teach babies Mandarin.”
“Compared with the old British Empire, and the new American imperium, Chinese cultural influence is virtually nil, and unlikely to increase.”
Boris Johnson’s appointment as Foreign Secretary is reportedly raising some eyebrows. Is Boris Johnson qualified to be Foreign Secretary? Is he qualified to be a prophet who are expected to give Brexit supporters some hope of reconstruction of the crushed empire?
Do you agree with his opinion about foreign language education in the UK?
—OFF TOPIC—
Don’t get near to reckless Boris Johnson. He also looks very heavy. I wonder how many innocent cows no less than the same size of him are slaughtered for food every day in his backyard.
Opinions aren’t about qualification. People should be judged on the merit of what they say rather than what people think of their character.
Boris is spot on. Why should westerners be taught Mandarin when they know zilch about their own cultural heritage or languages. Too many people rushing off to the latest fad culture without knowing their own. Lost individuals in my opinion.
He’s probably as qualified as the other useless and untrained politicians in their respective roles. Interestingly it was Hitler who first observed that parliament is the only place where an accountant can control cultural affairs, and a lawyer can control the health system, despite being utterly unqualified.
I’m pretty sure Boris just says things for the troll mostly. Nobody really takes him seriously. It’s a curious decision to make him Foreign Secretary, perhaps May wants to ruin his political career as quickly as possible lol.
What if you´re not that interested in your own culture? What if learning about your own culture won´t help you when it comes to travelling, business, education and whatnot?
I also think that learning about other cultures and languages helps you understand your own culture/language.
Monolingual Englsih speakers might be unaware that their language is a weird Latin/Germanic hybrid. I wasn´t aware that being unfriendly towards customers is not the norm until I moved to Canada xD
The good thing about languages learning (especially on LingQ) is that you can just read and learn aout all kinds of things things…and language acquisition becomes a mere by-product of doing so. . Right now I´m reading about German and Greek history…in Czech.
" i always imagine how boring people who learn languages for ‘economic’ reasons are. Extremely, i would guess. The sorts of people who get a buzz off doing their tax return."
Learning something for economic reasons is pretty normal, actually. Languages are no exception.
“He’s probably no more qualified than the other politicians in their respective roles.”
= He is probably as unqualified as the other politicians in their respective roles.
The above was simply done to practice transforming the below sentence:
“He’s probably as qualified as the other useless and untrained politicians in their respective roles.”
I wonder if the winter of this sentence thinks that Boris Johnson is qualified to be Foreign Secretary. If that is the case, I might have distorted his opinion about Boris Johnson.
By the way, I think that some people are more qualified than others. Rejecting politicians by calling them “all liars”, leads you to yearning for the benevolent all-mighty dictator. I notice a strong scent of populism here.
The Chinese economy is terrible right now. Companies are closing left and right all around me (Shanghai), and everyone is worried about their jobs if they still have one. And they produce nothing. Only the old retired folks in their 70’s+ still think the economy is great and trust the Party.
Learn Mandarin if you like it and want to talk to people around you. It’s not going to be a global business language.
In the UK, according to the Humane Slaughter Association (humane slaughter?), “Every year in the UK approximately 2.6 million cattle, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and lambs, 80 million fish and 950 million birds are slaughtered for human consumption […]”
“I have no interest in non-European languages and i always imagine how boring people who learn languages for ‘economic’ reasons are. Extremely, i would guess. The sorts of people who get a buzz off doing their tax return.”
I think when people learn languages for ‘economic reasons’, it is so that they can get a job where the language is required or helpful. The job itself might be very interesting. It is not so that they can do tax returns or watch economics lectures in the language.
Learn the language that most fascinates you. Then learn another. The time for Mandarin will come. I found the study of Mandarin well worth it, a totally new world, but not more rewarding than learning other languages. I wouldn’t learn Mandarin just because maybe some time in the future you might need it for work. Those Chinese that surround you at school will learn English and will prefer to communicate in English. If you end up in China you will learn Mandarin because you are a language learner. Language learners can learn languages if motivated. So wait till you feel the motivation.
I also don’t think Chinese will become an international language mainly because of the writing system and the tones.
Chinese language itself is a kind of the evolution of history, has experienced five thousand years precipitation down. I think it is a reason why some people chose to learn Chinese. Learning Chinese is not an easy thing, I think only strong motivation and sufficient interest can prompt you to overcome many difficulties and successfully acquire Chinese language. If you have no strong motivation, you don’t need to learn Chinese.
I think that due to the sheer difficulty of learning mandarin between its tones and logographic system it will continue to be much more common for people throughout the world to learn English as a second language, especially because English is already set as the go-to second language for communicating and trade throughout the world. Major international business deals are almost always conducted in English ( if both parties come from different linguistic backgrounds ) also the return on investment Is very poor ( speaking on hours invested in learning the language ) when you compare Chinese to say, German, French , Spanish or even Russian.
If your interested in learning a language for business/economical opportunities and usefulness I would definitely recommend Spanish, the resources for learning Spanish are extremely easy to come by, there are many people in the U.S. who only speak Spanish or speak English poorly, and it is one of the easiest languages for a native English speaker to learn, plus it can greatly improve your chances of getting hired or even can give you a raise ( speaking for Texas and Florida at least )
Lastly if your not interested in Spanish but still want to learn a language for business/economical opportunities just pick any language from the emerging BRIC economies ( Brazil, Russia , India, China ) and with Hindi you get the added bonus of also understanding Urdu
