There are as many reasons to study Chinese as there students who undertake the challenge. Learning anything well enough to be able to consider it a new skill you can use is difficult for anyone. New languages present their own special challenges. To pick up a second language requires a great deal of time and a tremendous amount of effort. Because it is a project that takes such a long time it could be argued that the single most important factor for success is probably intrinsic motivation, that is, the desire to succeed. This, of course, is not the only important factor but it is the one that makes all the others relevant and sustainable.
I personally have 5 top reasons that I enjoy learning Chinese so much. These include: respect for my wife and her culture, it is intrinsically interesting, it's fun, the possibility of future job opportunities and plain old vanity.
The reason I started to learn Chinese in the first place and what I consider my most important reason is that I married a Chinese woman. She speaks English quite fluently so I felt it was my responsibility, in the interest of a successful marriage, to learn to communicate with her as well in her language as she can with me in mine. This is a simple matter of respect. Along that same line the obvious side-benefit is that I can now communicate with all Mandarin speakers. I believe this demonstrates a certain level of cultural open-mindedness; Chinese people do, after all, represent 20% of the world's population. Nearly every major city in the world has a Chinatown. The Chinese have made a lot of effort to join the cultures of the world; the least we can do is learn to communicate as effectively as we can with them. Learning Chinese is the first and most overt way we can do this.
My marriage kick started my personal odyssey to master the ancient language that is Chinese. Though I started with a basically extrinsic reason to learn it became clear that as I progressed and my skills increased I would need some strong intrinsic reasons to sustain my effort. The first internal reason and second reason I enjoy it so thoroughly is that I made a realization: Chinese is a kind of puzzle that needs to be solved. It has an enigma-like quality that begs for an intrepid adventurer to wander in and wander around to discover it. It is a puzzle I am highly motivated to solve - I hate to leave things undone once I start. In particular, learning the characters is challenging. There are so many and in such great variety that when they are combined it is hard not to super-impose a mental maze onto them that is screaming to be conquered.
From here learning Chinese morphed into a new hobby, my third reason for loving it: it's a habit and a hobby. I started to feel the simple joy of learning and overcoming all new challenges. This is when I began to really comprehend the fruits of my labor; my first real successful attempts at meaningful communication with someone other than my wife or teacher. I started to communicate with all Chinese people. This inspired me to work even harder, take more Chinese classes and improve faster.
The fun I feel is becoming entwined with my fourth reason for enjoying Chinese, the very real possibility of gainful employment. In fact, working with my wife on a part-time basis, I have already done a lot of paper translating for companies all over China. I recognize that this is just the beginning. On the net there is a website dedicated to expats living in Beijing and they advertise jobs for foreigners. Many are for English teaching positions but fully half are for business and industry. These jobs are available to people from all over the world but they almost all come with a request: at least a conversational Chinese level. If you don't study you won't get!
And my final reason for studying so hard is my own vanity. I like being smarter than everyone else. Being able to communicate in Chinese when others can't makes me feel smart. The only way I was able to accomplish this was to take more classes and study with a native Chinese speaking teacher.
I'm sure you have many of your own reasons to study that I didn't even touch upon, but these are mine: respect, interest, fun, work and vanity. These reasons are as good as any, I suppose, to learn Chinese.
No comments:
Post a Comment