Why learn Chinese

    Many people say or were told that"Chinese is sooooooooooooooooo difficult to learn!" As an experienced Chinese(Mandarin) teacher,having taught hundreds of thousands of foreigners, I would say "IT IS NOT TRUE" if you know exactly why you want to learn it and have a good method to learn.
 

 

      It isn't really difficult, it just takes some time and effort and you can have fun out of the learning process too! I think no matter you learn a language or do anything.Knowing why is far more important before you know how.The purpose drives your actions.So if you don't have a good reason to start,then probably you wouldn't go very far.

1.Opportunities

Everyone knows China is growing fast and about 1.4 billion Chinese speak Chinese,so if you know how to speak the language then you open a whole huge market for your business or much bigger potential job opportunities.More opportunities bring more money,and the most important thing is that you have the advantage in both your home country and China because of your language skills.So you will have more options,the more options you have,the higher chance you will have the way you want to live your life. That's why so many businessmen start to learn Chinese to expand their market in China.Some may say you can hire a translator or business assistant who is native Chinese speaker.Sure, you can do it and you might still need to do it,even though you know how to speak Chinese.But you would feel a lot better and more in control of your own business even you only know some basic conversational Chinese.You can bargain with them,you can joke with them,then they won't think you are total foreign to China,you will find you have lower chance to be ripped off. If you are not interested in doing business at all and just curious about China then that is enough reason for you to learn Chinese.There are so many young people going to China just out of curiosity.It is a very unique and different country.Many foreigners found better opportunity in China.Some of my students became English teacher,some enjoy a lot taking commercials,some found their perfect match in China.Anyway, you have better chance to standout in a country that has 1.4 Chinese as a foreigner.

2.Dating Chinese
There are quite a few Western men attracted to Chinese women and they want Chinese girl friend.I might be a better idea to impress the girl you like with some Chinese.That is a good motivation to start to learn Chinese.
3.Teaching English
There are 300 million Chinese are learning or have learned English.So even you don't have skills but you are an English native speaker then you can find a teaching job there.It is not difficult to make from $20-$40 per hour(which is 130RMB-260RMB(Chinese currency)as a tutor or an English teacher in China.Some people might say that isn't very tempting.But considering the average hourly rate in America and the average salary and much lower living expense in China,it is pretty good for a person has no special skills other than speaking English.If you know some Chinese then you will find a well-paid job very very very easy in China.

4.Guilty ABC
Some ABC want to learn Chinese beccause you have Chinese background and you feel better if you know some of the language that your panrents or grandparents can speak. I know some ABC feel guilty that they can't speak any Chinese,if you are one of them ,start today get rid of your guiltiness!It is easier for you guys to start.Once you start then your kids are more likely to speak Chinese and English in future.