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Mandarin Chinese anyone?
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Considering our relations/indebtedness with the Chinese and their growing superpower status, esp. in business circles, has any one besides us, considered it to be prudent to have their children learn Mandarin Chinese? It’s the common language and according to what I’ve read, it is actually the most spoken language worldwide already.
Rachel
Yes, definitely! I took it for a semester in college and enjoyed it greatly.
HOWEVER, I do think it’s the kind of language that would be best learned with a native-speaking teacher present. Mandarin is “tonal,” which means the WAY you say a word (rising vs. falling inflection, for example) can change the meaning dramatically. I think those subtleties would be very hard for a person to learn on their own, and it would be very easy to get in the habit of saying things incorrectly if you didn’t have a native speaker to correct you.
Yes, I often think about it. My oldest son (8) and daughter (6) both have had a love for the Chinese for several years. I am not sure why they have chosen this country and these people, but they have. Each year I consider starting this language with them. Presently, I am hoping to just get some songs and allow them to hear it. I took a year of Spanish in high school and am starting with that. I feel much more comfortable with that language and my husband has expressed interest in us all learning it and taking some month+ missions trips to South or Central America. When I told him of the children love for China and thier interest in learning the language he said good it is becoming the language of the world. Chinese seems to be taking over more of the business language than English. I guess at this point I believe that thier interest may be from the Lord and I want to encourage, hoping that they can persue it later, but this year we have prayfully chosen Spanish. I am contemplating taking both next year. However, we just might end up doing Spanish, then adding in Latin, and later Chinese. Thanks for that info Sanveann I will keep that in mind.
The curriculum that I have been interested is called Better Chinese: http://www.betterchinese.com/Home.html
Could you please give me your thoughts on this program Sanveann?
Whereas in the past German, French and Spanish were the languages most often required as second languages, there is no doubt that with Europe and the US in decline as powerhouses economically, the Chinese and to a lesser extent India are becoming world leaders. China will become the superpower of the world in the next decade and like it or not, we will have to deal with them as they hold the debt of both the US and Europe to a large extent and so much of the stuff that people want is now made in China – they have the labor, and capital to stay at the top for a very long time – however they do have a populace that is not treated well and they have to watch them carefully. All in all though speaking Chinese will be a huge benefit for the future – I am certain of that. It is a complex language and one not easily learned without guidance, unlike most European languages where you can muddle along on your own. It also of course has a completely different character set, and as Sanveann already stated it is tonal which makes it even more complex. The Chinese culture is very different to our own as well, and nuances in dealing with the Chinese have to be carefully studied to avoid insult. However, imho I too think it is something worth looking into. Linda
I just want to add one caveat to my comment above – the Chinese have had amazing economic growth in the last years and some people think it is unsustainable and that they are growing their own bubble which will burst just as the bubble in the housing burst here – there are no guarantees of anything and the only thing one can do is make a calculated guess at what to do and what to learn. The Chinese have hedge fund issues like a lot of other countries and they have lent out billions to their own states within China to build – a lot of people say that the money lent will never be repayed because the Chinese themselves as a people do not have the money to make it pay – so they are taking risky gambles and handing out risky loans – so I think I would still choose a European Language along side Chinese to hedge your own bets if it is possible for you to do. The world is a fragile place and there is a lot of awful gambling going on in the governments of the world – we just need to not put all our eggs in one basket. Linda
Oh yes, Linda; I absolutely agree, regarding both of your posts. My children, 9 and 10, are in their 3rd and 4th yr. of Hebrew, then they’re going into Latin (my son starting in a couple of mths.), and then Greek. With that background and foundation, they’ll be able to pick up any of the Euro languages as they desire, IMO.
As for culture, even without Communism, it’s society down to the individual v/s our individual up to society; the reason why we had to nuke Japan 2x to get them to surrender was that the individual has no real identity and is subject to the good of the whole-they would’ve continued fighting till the last one.
The borrower is subject to the lender and China is definitely the lender; even if they are bad loans, the lender has more power and leverage. Unfortunately, America isn’t producing anymore either, we’re trained consumers of cheap garbage; but we can change this trend, that has been in progress for many decades, if we make some major, painful changes in several areas.
Whatever the direction G-d allows the direction of this world to take, we must prepare our children spiritually first, to have a good work ethic, be well educated (in history especially, that way they can’t be fooled as easily in my opinion!), have the ability to think for themselves and give them the tools to take care of themselves and their families. The less dependant my children have to be on commercial products and distracted by modern entertainments, the more dependant they can be on G-d and independant by the work of their hands, the better off they’ll be, I think.
I wouldn’t be starting it soon anyway, but it’s in the back of my mind as a serious option as I watch things unfold in the next few years. There’s a Chinese cultural center within an hour of my place.
Rachel
Rachel, I agree with your last post as well…Only God knows the plan he has for us – and I too feel the fact that most of us walk to the beat of a different drummer already puts us in a good place, as long as we put Him first and technology and the world second. By that I do mean we can live in splendid isolation, but we can shield our children from some of the waste of time and energy technology that is out there while still keeping them familiar with the things that are important with computers. My daughters have an i-Pod now each and I have a Kindle, but the Kindle we use for school and the i-Pods have some of their German course on them as well as Praise music. So I do not shield them from things that are a benefit, but we do not hanker after their use, we prefer to sit and listen to music on our CD player and read proper books – I am a believer in balance and keeping an eye out for things that can lend value to our lives, not the things that cause us to waste the precious time we have. You are lucky to have that cultural center so close by, that will be handy. Linda
Rachel, I looked over the sample packet for the younger grades, and it looked a little intimidating to me! They definitely introduced characters a LOT earlier than I think I probably would want. I would focus a lot more on proper speech first (especially as correct pronunciation and intonation matter SO much in Chinese), and then introduce the characters. I think that’s also more in line with CM’s language philosophy, from what I can recall. I think it would be overload to have little kids who are still mastering English have to start worrying about an entire new set of very complex characters.
The characters were definitely THE most frustrating part of the language. You could know the right word for something and how to say it, and still have ZERO idea how to write it!
I really do think that with any language — but ESPECIALLY Chinese — in-person instruction is the ideal. How lucky for you that you have a cultural center nearby! I was very lucky that in my college course, we had a fabulous TA who made the class not only very fun but gave us all sorts of useful ways of remembering the characters. (Incidentally — one nice thing about Mandarin is that verbs aren’t conjugated! It was such a after French, with the “je suis,” “tu es,” “nous sommes,” etc.!)
I agree with MissingtheShire that another European language would also be a good idea. We will probably do Spanish, ourselves, simply because it’s spoken in so many parts of the U.S. (and of course in almost all of Central and South America!). But I took French in high school myself and still have a particular love for it — though I can count on one hand the number of times it’s come in useful!
Well, while I agree with everything that’s been said, I must say that I won’t be learning Mandarin anytime soon. We have a 6yo Chinese son (our first “gotcha day” is tomorrow) and we spent two weeks in that country this time last year. We’ve also had exchange students from China and Taiwan. I’ve thought every time I’ve heard them speak, HOW DO THEY MAKE THOSE SOUNDS???”
As a good ol’ southern girl, I just know I wouldn’t be able to do it! We also live in a rural area and would have no native speakers to help us, which would be essential. It’s sad that our son has already lost his Chinese. They told us he would after 6 months, and he did. He speaks none now, although he might be able to understand some of it. I, too, had a love for French in high school and we’ve had two special exchange students from there as well who come to visit fairly often, so my younger sons will French as well as Latin.Is Latin hard to teach? Is it a difficult language to learn? My kids will start with German because my mom and my brother-in-law are both German. But I think it would be awesome if they learned Hebrew & Greek bc of the Bible and Latin because of science, etc. But when and how do you introduce these things?
P.S. As for Chinese, that is way out of my realm! 🙂 But it would be very cool to learn…
Hey Becky, there are some great posts on teaching Latin if you do a search. I’ve decided to use Latin 4 Children because it has a DVD he can watch if I’m not available, the classical pronunciation cd (I choose the classical pronunciation) and history readers for translation and the textbook. It can be fairly self-taught with these items. He’s a strong self-learner so if I’m not able to be with him to guide him through the lesson that day, he’s able to still move forward (there’s also teaching in his text, so it more student directed), as he does in his Hebew. All I do is do quick flashcard review, look over his shoulder as he translates and make sure his script is neat! My dd requires more help (of which he’s more than happy to give, too!).
Both of mine have been doing Hebrew since age 5/6, plus being Messianic, they’ve been exposed to Hebrew at Synagogue from the beginning and through our music we listen to. Hebrew is considered harder to learn than Latin. In my research about whether to do LAtin or Greek first, it was recommended to do Latin first, then Greek; as Latin came from Greek, too, so once you have the Latin down, then the Greek is much easier.
My opinion for getting started with Latin, for classical purposes from a CM perspective, correlates with more intensive grammar; which is 9/10. Pure classical teachers start sooner, but they’re more hardcore on grammar earlier, too. I intend to begin Greek about 3 years or so after Latin, so age 14?
Hebrew and Greek are for religious reasons; I want my children to be able to read the Scriptures in the original tongue and to faciliate communicating in Modern Hebrew in Israel and/or in the Jewish Community. I’m hoping to get them the Hebrew in Rosetta Stone for immersion after they’ve had the years (now i their 3rd and 4th) of structural learning to seal the conversational aspect, if that makes sense. Latin is for numerous reasons; strengthening their thinking skills and english skills, expanding their reading options to the classics in Latin, giving a base for further European languages, and if one or the other goes into a science field, of course that will help as well.
I’d say start looking around for what style would facilitate your life best. Here’s a good site to compare differing curricula. My dd is very auditory, so she’s going to be introduced with Song School Latin, as language doesn’t come to her as easily as her brother before the L4C Primer A. I’m sure you could do it if you set your mind to it and you felt that G-d calls you to teach these tools (the languages) for their lives for His purposes, as I have felt since my son was 2.
Rachel
Thanks Rachel. I will check those out. Hmm, good reminder too… “and you felt that G-d calls you to teach these tools (the languages) for their lives for His purposes,”…. not just because I think it would be really cool! Ha! 🙂 I think sometimes I get so caught up in what’s possible for my kids that I forget to ask the one who created them what He might have in mind for them. 🙂
Hi, I’m a mom with a 5-year-old American kid.
My son learns Chinese with a free e-book and he seems to be deeply intrigued by this fun e-book.
I highly recommend this e-book to you and hope you like it.
This thread is two years old and I just say I’ve done a lot of thinking about it, talked about it Monday night at our CM meeting, in fact. My Chinese son, now 9, has no desire to re-learn his native language but I’m feeling like he should? I now have a dear library patron who is Chinese and she has offered to teach us. But I don’t know the issues my little guy is facing. He was adopted at almost 6 and for a long time was adamantly opposed to anything Chinese. He’s not so much now but still shows no interest. Any wisdom?
Interesting question, Robin. A dear family we are close to has adopted two girls from China. We are best friends with them all, even our dogs are buddies. They are learning Mandarin also, but I believe their younger girl was adopted at about age 5 (she’s 9 now) so she already had some knowledge. The older was an infant at adoption. I will ask if they’ve experienced anything similar or have any advice and pass it on to you.
As a good ol’ southern girl, I just know I wouldn’t be able to do it! We also live in a rural area and would have no native speakers to help us, which would be essential. It’s sad that our son has already lost his Chinese. They told us he would after 6 months, and he did. He speaks none now, although he might be able to understand some of it. I, too, had a love for French in high school and we’ve had two special exchange students from there as well who come to visit fairly often, so my younger sons will French as well as Latin.
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