Every time I tell someone I study Mandarin in school, I always hear the same response: “Wow, that’s so impressive!” I never get the same response when I tell people I have been taking Spanish for six years. They say it’s nice and it’s a good language to know, but I always get a bigger reaction when I tell people I speak Chinese. If I am attempting to learn two languages fluently, why should one be more “impressive” than the other. Why is Chinese so important?
As an aspiring actress, people may think I’m wasting my time learning Chinese, but I completely disagree. While Chinese will prove to be useful in the business world in the coming years, it has a place in all facets of life.
As an actress, I attempt to translate written words into emotions, and attempt to make audiences feel my pain, sorrow, and happiness. By learning Chinese, I translate my thoughts and emotions into something other people can understand. In a way, it’s like acting.
When I speak Mandarin to a native speaker or someone from China, I feel empowered. I am not limited by a single language, but I can communicate in a way that is comfortable for the other person. Furthermore, by speaking Chinese, all of the work I put in to learning tones and pronunciation pays off. With many other languages, such as Spanish, there are many cognates. With Chinese, nothing is predictable.
Speaking Chinese is important to me because it is an unpredictable challenge. Like acting, speaking Mandarin forces me to step out of my comfort zone and express my ideas in an understanding way.
This is such a fascinating article! I can relate to what you’re depicting. Whenever I tell people that I speak Japanese and Chinese, they always see Japanese inferior to Chinese. Sure, Japanese is “easier” due to the fact it doesn’t use tones when speaking, but I always see them as equals. They’re equally difficult languages to learn in their own way. While Chinese is, personally, easier to write than to speak. Japanese uses more emotions and many characters were derived from Chinese characters.
Thanks for sharing! I personally learn Mandarin to be able to converse with some of my family members who live in China. Being multilingual is certainly empowering and I feel that knowing more than one language will benefit everyone who takes the time to study and master it. Great job!
Thank you for sharing this article! I personally feel the same way when I tell people that I study Mandarin in school. I also enjoyed how you related Chinese speaking to being an actress and how the two really are not that different. Thank you so much Happy Holidays!
I agree with learning a new language that doesn’t evolve in your family doesn’t equal wasting time. It is nice to take a challenge and appreciate different cultures.
I agree! Every time I bring up to my family and friends that I take Chinese they all praise me. They tell me how it is such a hard language to learn and I agree. It may be hard at times to learn, but it’s very useful and fun:)
I agree so much! Chinese comes off as more impressive than any other language. The usefulness makes the difficulty worth it.
Learning another language is impressive. Chinese is important to me because when I go to Taiwan, I can communicate with other people!