Recently, the number of foreigners who come to learn Chinese in China is greatly increasing. It is a question for us that why more and more westerners are curious about the Chinese language. In this essay, we will search for the reason of learning Chinese language in a foreigners’ respective.
Deborah Fallowes, with which a famous American writers and researcher that learners who study Chinese may familiar, have the experience of living abroad for many years with her husband. During the process, they have moved many times and have gone to many places from Africa to the Southeast Asia.
When being asked why chose China finally, she said that there is no other place is more interesting than China. They have been to China in the middle of the 1980s. She also said that if they go there now, it must be greatly changed. What’s more, the country is at the most special stages in the process of evolution and development, which is known for those who study in China.
When asked how the action of learning Chinese language changed her life in China, she said that she just regarded as a tool to help them adapt to the daily life when she began to learn Mandarin. Only when her Mandarin had a little improvement did she realize that it greatly changed her life. learning Chinese language became the access for her to explain what she learned and seen in everyday life.
In the following parts are some examples to explain how she learned more about China when she stepped to learn Chinese language. The table manners are very formal, even a little too polite. If you want to serve the tea, you should first serve for all people around the table before you pour it for yourself. However, this phenomenon is in huge contrast with the case she sees in public like the crowded and pushing behaviors in the streets.
She recognized one point from the linguistic view that the most appropriate way to speak in Chinese is to be straightforward, even a little rude. She has asked some friends in China and got the answer that if you speak to them too polite, people would think you are too formal to get along with the friends or family. As a matter of fact, it is equivalent to farther the distance. Many foreigners in Mandarin learning courses may feel the same when they are in China.
Those who show great interest in Chinese learning when they learn in Chinese language school may want to know what the most important thing is for the westerners who want to know more about the China. According to Deborah Fallowes, she thought the large country with a population of 1.3 billion was just like a huge stone before she came here, symbolizing a large and unified nation, in which people are moving fast forward in the same direction. When he arrived here, she found that everyone is striving for living a better life in their own way.
The daily life of Chinese people is more like a fire drill but not a uniform national action. However, what important for those who in Mandarin language courses in China is to understand the nation as much as possible but not to have a sense of fear. They should realize that in the relations with China, there are less horrible things than they think but more acceptable things than they think.
Then, should more westerners learn Chinese language? In the view of themselves, they should learn more than just one language. The more languages you master, your life will be easier when you go abroad. Therefore, many foreigners go to school to study Mandarin. It is the same sense for people in every country to learn more languages.
Of course, she thinks that it will be really a wise choice for this generation of children to go to school to study in China. The reason is that it will help them open the door to a wider world. We are not mean to say that the Mandarin will rule the world. The point is that it will bring us more convenience in our work, life and communication as well as to understand the country that matters for our future.
Obviously, we can see that learning Chinese language is necessary because it will bring great importance for learners. What’s more, with the rapid development of China’s economy, the Chinese language becomes more popular.