Many people in the United States are fascinated with China. I have had a fascination with China for over 35 years. I studied China in high school and college and had the extreme good fortune of being able to make my first of many trips to Beijing in 1994. My fascination with China has culminated with my recent relocation from Idaho, USA to Beijing.
I have found in the past that when I tell my friends and others about my travels to China, the first most common thing they say is, “I have always wanted to go to China!” That statement is almost always followed up with the question, “How difficult is it to get around and do other things when you don’t speak Chinese?”
I sometimes wonder if Chinese citizens returning to China from to their travel to the United States hear similar statements questions from their friends and associates. Given the two very different approaches schools in China and the U.S. are taking in the area of teaching foreign languages, I would have to give the education edge to Chinese students. By virtue of the emphasis Chinese schools and Chinese students are placing on the study of English, I feel Chinese students are much better equipped to interact with Americans than Americans are to interact with their Chinese speaking counterparts.
“What do you call someone who only speaks one language?” “An American.” I have heard this joke many times in my travels and I must admit to having told it myself a time or two. I mention this to emphasize further the differences between Chinese and American school curriculums. China has made the study of English compulsory for students starting in the third year of primary school. Proficiency in English has become integral for Chinese applying for jobs with foreign companies. It is seen as a passport to a better, more prosperous future.
Now contrast the Chinese all out efforts to learn English, with the dearth of students in the U.S. who know how to speak any Chinese, and the scarcity of schools and colleges that even offer the study of Chinese to their students as an option. The sad truth is that when faced with tight, inadequate budgets, foreign language classes are often one of the first things sacrificed to make ends meet. Should there be enough money in a budget to offer a foreign language option or two, the default languages offered are usually Spanish, German or French. Chinese never seems to make the cut.
However, the number of proponents for teaching Chinese in school seems to be growing within educational circles in the U.S. They argue that China’s stature in a growing, interconnected economy makes it ever more important for students to learn Chinese so they will be able to communicate and negotiate better and so that they will be able to be more competitive.
Dissenters to this idea argue that because there are an ever growing number of English speakers in China, the need to teach Chinese in U.S. schools is lessening all the time. While, in my experience, there is some validity to that argument, on the whole, I think students who learn Chinese in U.S. schools will have a definite advantage over their non-Chinese speaking contemporaries who wish to do business in China, or who wish to interact on any level with the people of China.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that there is some dissent in China against compulsory English language lessons. Some detractors argue that English studies take up too much of a pupil’s time, and that only a few of the students learning English will ever get to use it. Others argue that the big emphasis in Chinese schools on teaching English means that the students are not becoming as proficient with their own language as they should be. Students, it is said, are becoming too Americanized and are mixing English words with their pinyin. These sentiments and others are leading some people to call for dropping English as a compulsory course in primary and middle schools.
I feel that compulsory English language courses in China benefit both the students and people of China in many tangible and intangible ways. They lead to greater levels of understanding and interaction and understanding between the China and the English speakers of this ever shrinking world. When my friends and others ask me about how easy or not it is to get around China as a non-Chinese speaker, I tell them about all of the English speakers in China now and that the number of English speakers is growing every day. I tell them about Chinese people of all walks of life, and especially students, asking me if I would please speak with them in English so they can improve their English skills. I am always happy to do this. It makes me feel less and less like a stranger in a strange land.
Hawkeye in China
Lex Smith