Take a look at this video:
Given the rise of China as a global economic and cultural power, the language has made its presence felt all over the world, as seen by the opening ceremony of The 2008 Beijing Olympics. Investors and businessmen who had forseen what China is capable of promising are all learning Mandarin.
Have you seen this video before? It was part of Singapore's Speak Mandarin Campaign 2009.
Singapore's Speak Mandarin Campaign has started since 1979, and recent campaigns have turned their attention to focus on children instead. Indeed, people have started realizing the importance of learning mandarin nowadays. There are some who pick up the Chinese language because it proves useful in business. There are some who adopt the language simply because our parents said so. Whatever the reasons may be, today more than ever, there is no denying the importance of learning Chinese.
Some of you might ask, why do we have to learn Mandarin? Isn't it enough that there are Chinese who understand the international language of English? Well, it definitely is not enough.
Firstly, language is symbolic. As quoted from Thinking through Communication, " To communicate, people must find a way to express the ideas that originate in their minds." Having a common language helps us to understand better what each other is talking about and how they feel, as we are now starting from a common ground. Many misunderstandings have occurred due to language barriers. For instance, every Mandarin word has four tones, and each of the four tones can mean a different word. What was meant as a greeting may come across as an insult. Not knowing how to speak Mandarin properly when dealing with their China-counterparts can lead to misunderstandings and unhappiness, and eventually lead to a failure in business dealings for investors.
Also, learning Chinese also means that we get a chance to understand a different culture. The Chinese language belongs to a high-context culture, where it is not necessary to spell out messages explicitly. They believe that where and how something is said is as important as what is said. As such, it is important to understand the language to further understand the other contextual cues that Chinese uses. Understanding the culture will also help us in doing the 'correct' thing at the right time. For instance, the Chinese have many taboos. It is considered very inauspicious to give a clock as a gift as the Chinese phrase for 'giving a clock' sounds the same as the phrase for 'sending a person off for his funeral'. The Chinese pronunciation for 'pears' sounds the same as the one for 'leaving', which means it is also a taboo to give pears. A false step due to a lack of understanding in the Chinese culture will leave many investors and businessmen unknowingly 'blacklisted'.
Given the rise in power of China both economically and culturally, it is a wise choice to start mastering Chinese. Sooner or later, we will have to encounter situations where we have to deal with Chinese, and knowing their language will put us at an advantage over the rest!
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in this modern society where everyone is communicating in english, many other languages are left at the back seat. next to appearance, your first impression is often left by the language that you speak, or heard speaking. however, having said that, english speaking proficiency is without a doubt very important as english is a common language all across the globe. in my opinion, being able to communicate well in english is very important. however, one should also be proficient in his mother tongue. this is why Singapore's educational system is so good, they aim to provide bilingual education so as to prevent difference languages from being forgotten.
ReplyDeleteyou have put up a very interesting video of children speaking in chinese! besides being light-hearted and entertaining, it also carries a message behind it.it shows that parents are actually putting their children through mandrin speaking courses in order to match up with the rising power and influence of China.
no doubt people who are able to converse proficiently in english are deemed to be more "cultured" or "well-learnt". however if you look at it in the context of communicating with a chinese nationality personel, being able to converse even briefly in mandrin shows much sincerity and will definitely impress!
while i appreciate language or cultural differences(vive la difference and all), I think it is extremely important that we have a universal language. That might not be easy but that will certainly help facilitate negotiations among countries and stuffs like that.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, a language in symbolic, and every language has its own nuances. I don't believe translators can effectively do the job in translating when countries without a common language are in negotiations. Even when using the same language we often experience misunderstandings. What more different languages?
However, encouraging the usage of a universal language does not mean that I advocate the homogenisation(?) of cultures or languages. I think languages make our lives more colourful and picking up a new language is always terribly exciting. The point of communication is to get your point across clearly and correctly to the other party/parties and I believe that can be better achieved using a common language.
For most people, Chinese is more difficult to pick up than English so perhaps the generation doing business with the Chinese now could use English? But it is a good idea for young children to pick up chinese so they'll be proficient in it when they grow up.
Hi Wanling!
ReplyDeleteMuch as i dislike speaking in Mandrin, I concede with your argument that learning Mandarin is utmost important now given the rising economic and cultural power of China. Learning to master the Chinese language is not sufficient to be able to communicate. We would also need to be able to understand and learn its culture. You have used a good example to illustrate this point by mentioning about giving others a clock on their birthday. Thus learning the culture too will aid in the communication process better, avoiding miscommunication. Having a common language is still not good enough.
But before we emphasise the importance of learning one's culture, we would need to raise the awareness of others over the importance of mastering the Chinese language.
Although I think most Singaporan Chinese are still pretty apathetic in learning Mandrin, I think the situation would improve with time when China makes its' progress and influence more significant to the world.
I think it's really amazing, the multi-facets of language. You make us proud of our mother-tongue by the way! (:
ReplyDeleteYou're so right. How language is not only for communication, but serves a symbolic purpose as well. Your example of how Chinese should communicate in Mandarin with chinese counterparts to achieve mental-bonding makes one wonder about the disadvantaged one-language-speakers.
I like the examples you gave about the different meanings of chinese words!