Why learn Chinese?
Though it’s true a second language can help us find jobs, let’s also focus on the other reasons for learning a language. We spend so much of our lives having to serve the interests of an economy that doesn’t care about people or the world. It’s high time we were able to put the interests of each other ahead of those of CEOs and tax havens. Learning a language, in a variety of ways, can help us do this.
Society often funnels us down a career-path. Before we’ve had the chance to discover where our passions reside, we find ourselves scrambling from paycheck to paycheck on low or minimum wages. Worse still, the labour we provide either leaves us starved of inspiration, or in some cases even robs us of time to pursue our interests - all of which has damaging implications for our mental and physical health.
Learning a language can provide some relief, and even an escape, from these pressures. It can’t stop us worrying about bills or rent, but it can help us find other lines of work. Aside from potential career benefits, the process itself is rewarding, and a lot more fun than traditional methods have led us to believe. Far from being an unwelcome burden on our daily routines, learning a language can become an enjoyable distraction from life’s pressures. As well as helping our immediate mental health, it is also thought to aid cognitive function, and could delay the symptoms of dementia.
Learning a language may even help us tackle the problems facing the world. If we can communicate with and learn from each other, we stand a better chance of organising against issues as global as climate breakdown.
With an estimated 921 million speakers, Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken first language in the world. When second language speakers and learners are included, there are as many as 1.12 billion speakers. Aside from being the standard form of Chinese spoken and taught in China, it is an official language in Singapore and Taiwan, and is used by communities around the world.
Although speaking a new language does not revolutionise how you see the world, the people and cultures it takes you to will. It's almost like discovering the world again as a child, just in a different tongue. It refreshes the mind and can fill you with the impetus to experience different cultures and meet new people. This could be as conveniently as watching Chinese films or reading a Tong Hua novel in the evening. It could be an experience as spontaneous as chatting with people at a bar in Beijing, or before a football match in Guangzhou. It could even be a whole new life in Nanjing or Shenzhen.
After learning any language, the prospect of learning others suddenly feels much more feasible, and this is especially true for languages that share similarities. After learning Mandarin Chinese, you’ll find it much simpler to learn different Chinese dialects, including Cantonese. Though from a different language family, you’ll also find Japanese takes less time to learn, as the majority of its writing system comes from Chinese characters.
If you're interested in learning Chinese, there's a How to Learn Languages guide :