Chinese – First Language of the world?

Yuanyuan Guan; Mar 27 2009

"Photo by Yuanyuan Guan"

If you post on Gum Tree: “Do you want to find a personal Chinese tutor?” you will be surprised to find out how many people reply.

My personal experience proves that even after several days, you will still get phone calls or e-mails willing to hire you.

I am now the Chinese tutor for an English adult. His Mandarin is so good than you can barely believe he has never been to China before. His two little girls are also now keen on Chinese songs and dance.

The British are not known for their interest in foreign languages, especially non-European languages, but now, the situation seems changing.

Mandarin Chinese is booming in British schools. According to the figures released by the Independent, there is a 27 per cent rise this year in pupils taking an exam similar to the GCSE (The General Certificate of Secondary Education) most suitable for newcomers to the Chinese language.

More and more British primary schools choose Chinese as their compulsory course. Although the absolute numbers of pupils involved remain small, the trend is striking proof that languages can quickly take hold and flourish when introduced in a school.

It’s so cool to speak this language!

Johnson, my student enjoys his language course very much. “Many people think Chinese is quite difficult. It is, when you first learn it, but when you get into it gradually, it’s OK. Even if I can speak pretty fine Chinese, writing the characters is still too difficult for me. But I think it’s fine, it’s so cool to speak this language.”

The Chinese teacher from the Polylang Open Language Programme said: “Many people exaggerate the difficulty of it, but actually Chinese is not difficult, it’s just different.”

More and more British people are willing to pay for language study. The main reason is they believe China is going to be the biggest economic power besides America, based on the rapid economic development of this country.

Like Johnson, he thinks he has a great advantage in any job interview, because many companies have commercial cooperations with big Chinese companies. Some of them have branches based in several big cities in China.

Those Britons who are able to converse in Mandarin could find themselves at a distinct commercial advantage in the coming years.

Is it going to be the future language?

There are now about 400 state schools in the country where some Chinese is taught. For the first time, schools will be allowed to choose a non-European tongue, such as Mandarin, as the compulsory language taught to pupils when they arrive from primary school.

The Confucius Classroom, which is sponsored by Beijing’s Chinese Language Council, has teamed up with British schools to promote the teaching of Mandarin.

Quite a few state schools have been chosen to be pioneers for the scheme. They will host language teachers from China, and their pupils will have the opportunity to take part in exchange schemes.

It would be unrealistic to expect Chinese to prosper through British schools right away. Many school authorities believe it’s better not to make the language compulsory for all. The pupils will have more passion if they get to make the choices.

If the language ever threatens to rival English on the world stage, demand to learn it will certainly receive a substantial boost. Whether there will be a shift in the future First Language of the world, we can wait and watch.