Submitted 7 hours ago by TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
As an American who grew up at a religious school in the 90s, we absolutely did not (or at least I never had access to one). Obviously places like Kora or Tibet have been effected in their history (I still want to read your answers 😁), but what about, for example, New Zealand? Or Sierra Leonne? Or Portugal? I’m just curious to see how pervasive the new Global Language already is by this point.
BonusQuestion: Is it mostly following their Belt-and-Road Initiative? Wouldn’t that be something?
It’s a good question and I’m not dismissing you! But
As an American who grew up at a religious school in the 90s, we absolutely did not
that in itself is such an American thing to say. First the unspoken assumption that everybody understands what you mean by “religious”. And if I looked around here where I live I’m sure I could find a christian (which btw does not mean the same as in the US) school that teaches chinese. And probably even the leaders of such schools have never considered to separate languages into “christian” and “non-christian”.
The second half of your question seems a bit paranoid. Are you implying that every Chinese language class is secretly funded by the PRC? Are you afraid that your country might switch to Chinese at some point? Do you have a problem with English not being the No. 1 langauage, globally? I’m no friend of China’s political system, but this seems excessive.
… how pervasive the new Global Language already is …
I’m going to challenge you on this point. First of all, what’s Chinese? I’m guessing you refer to Putonghua aka Mandarin, the erstwhile variant of Beijingnese prescribed for official use within the PRC by their political leadership.
And second, how “global” is it? It’s useful primarily in one contiguous area of the world. Even there a large chunk of people kind of learn it as a first semi-foreign language because they speak something different at home. Cantonese, Shanghainese, or a language that cannot be written in Chinese characters.
Which brings me to my third point: a language that requires study of a script this idiosyncratic will not rise to a global language. Vietnam has gotten rid of hanzi, Korean pretty much as well. Ironically, the north has already completely abandoned it. By comparison, the Latin alphabet was spread by cavalry and cannon boat into all parts of the world for centuries. It spread so far that it is now used to teach pinyin to PRC schoolchildren. And while it is not without its own problems, the simplicity and adaptability of this phonetic alphabet to any language makes it far more useful than Chinese characters. And I’m not shitting on the cultural value of them: that’s unimpeachable. It’s just too complicated.
The alphabet spread with English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese all over the world. I’m not saying that’s a good thing but it’s already happened. Mandarin cannot have a similar success today unless the PRC starts colonizing at gunpoint fast.
Most Chinese as a foreign language speakers outside the PRC learned it for economic reasons. Economic ties have become somewhat dicey. If anything I suspect interest in learning Mandarin to wane.
There is also the tonal aspect. Any atonal-native language learner is going to have a much harder time than trying to remember the non-sensical English orthography.
More people on this planet learn English as their first and possibly only foreign language - if they learn one at all. The forum you asked this question on is in English. The internet cements the use of the alphabet.
I’m in Japan where foreign language education is notoriously sub-par overall. English is the first foreign language. Some private high schools offer Mandarin as an optional, I haven’t seen anything substantial in state-run schools. At college level, most people chose between French and German as a second foreign language. Like we’re still in the Meiji Era. I’m a big proponent that they abandon this tradition in favor of Russian, Korean, and Mandarin. It always helps to learn the language of your neighbors. Language schools advertize k-pop-trendy Korean more.
First of all, what’s Chinese?
It is the mistake that the AI made that generated this manipulative troll post.
You’re grilling OP on something they already said they have little experience with. OP is asking questions to learn, and the grilling is detrimental to that.
“challenge” (with an informative explanation) == “grill”
Thanks for clarifying which sort of internet user you are.
I’m criticizing the use of the phrase “new global language.” And I’ve laid out my reasons why I think that’s wrong. I didn’t think I was grilling OP, just the perception of Mandarin being the new global language. So I’m a little taken aback that you read it that way; that wasn’t my intention.
The French education system require to study two foreign language among a long list, so why most people take English + German/Spanish/Italian some people take rare language like Chinese.
To my understanding rare and hard language like Chinese (or Russian) are also a way to be admitted to a better school/class than your local school, so it’s often used by rich kids who want to bypass their local public school and be affected to a good school/class
High school requires at least a second language class to graduate, I believe. Most people take French as it’s the “default” one that all schools offer, but my school also had Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese, iirc. But that was decades ago.
Umm, gonna answer as an American, for clarity: many schools across the US have language classes of all sorts. Every niece/nephew I know across multiple states could study French, Spanish, Latin, Chinese, Italian, etc, etc. Chinese is one of many (typically Mandarin).
It’s very common in US public schools, and has increased significantly over the last 50 years.
What about Russian? Serious question; around here it was a relatively popular choice (we share a border with Russia) one or two decades ago, but I suspect this might have changed recently.
We only had Spanish for 8th grade and up. When I was in 7th they had high school French but cut it for budget before I got there.
My school offered (from most popular to least popular):
I think my child’s high school offers the same, although I don’t know the relative popularities. I’m confident Spanish is still most popular, and judging by the number of posters around the school from German classes trying to convince kids to take German, I’m thinking German is still not very popular.
the new Global Language
This is not decided yet.
Russian is still a candidate. English still a possibility despite one large English-speaking country giving up all it’s meaning.
My school (UK, 1980s) offered Mandarin as an extracurricular course. I signed up, showed up... and was the only student. One-on-one classes the rest of the year :)
(Just don't try grilling me in Mandarin now, though.)
There was a show on Nick Jr that taught me how to count to three in Chinese while my kids had snack time.
eatham@aussie.zone 12 minutes ago
In Australia, my high school offers German and Chinese mandatory in y7-8 but optional afterwards.