Why you should learn the Chinese language

In the past month, we interviewed 10 students at GoEast’s Shanghai campuses, asking them their top 3 reasons to learn Mandarin. Their backgrounds spanned the globe and included a broad range of ages. These were the top 3 answers.

Why learn Chinese reason #3: Communicate Better with the World

Living in China can be simpler and easier if you know Mandarin. Small things like taking a cab or buying credits for your cellphone are much easier if you can explain yourself in a few effective words instead of just gesturing wildly with your phone. Once you get past learning the basics you can begin to have much deeper and in-depth conversation with native Mandarin speakers by conversing in their native tongue. Instead of struggling to get past “How are you?”, you can begin to really understand the subtleties of life in China. Remember that there are a total of 848 million Mandarin speakers in the world… would you really want to exclude yourself from interacting with 12% of the entire planet?

“I can handle things by myself, joke around, and make friends, which just add to my life. Otherwise, I will be speaking English all the time, which it’s not fun” — R

Why learn Chinese reason #2:
To Better Appreciate Chinese Culture

First created about 5,000 years ago, Chinese characters were originated from pictures and are composed of lines, hooks, and dots (which are called strokes) instead of alphabets.  Some find Chinese characters difficult to learn but more find them to be amazing and interesting. Chinese culture is very unique in the world, without religions but full of diverse “-isms”: Confucianism, Taoism, and many others.  Chinese art is also incredibly diverse spanning many mediums including “guanxi” (connection) philosophy, ink and brush paintings, poems in four lines, as well as a full calendar of festivals including the spring festival, and the Qingming festival. To fully appreciate this rich culture, learning Mandarin is a must!

If you don’t speak Chinese yourself, you will always rely on other people’s experiences.

Why learn Chinese reason #1:
Chinese job opportunities

These are the facts:

• Given China’s explosive growth it is increasingly becoming involved in every aspect of global affairs including trade, diplomacy, development, and many others
• Chinese is one of the United Nations’ six official languages
• China is now the largest trading nation in the world in terms of imports and exports
• China is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world
• China creates more than 200 millions job opportunities each year

So what are you waiting for!

Why you should learn Chinese according to our students

Looking for reasons not to learn Mandarin? Here we dispel them.