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Why don't the Chinese learn English instead of Mandarin

ronki23

ronki23

Well-Known Member
Like in India, the majority knows both their regional language and English. Hindi is not a necessity. They use English as the medium

China has Wu, Yue, Min, Hokkien, Hakka, Tibetan and Mongolian so why don't they know those languages but speak to people from other provinces in English?

Mandarin is not even that old a language; afaik Mao ruined the alphabet and grammar.
 
Rival

Rival

Diex Aie
Staff member
Premium Member
Because we never conquered China like we did India. Much of British culture, including language and schooling, was stamped on India. Nothing like that happened in China.
 
Viviane LaFrance

Viviane LaFrance

Member
ronki23 said:
Like in India, the majority knows both their regional language and English. Hindi is not a necessity. They use English as the medium

China has Wu, Yue, Min, Hokkien, Hakka, Tibetan and Mongolian so why don't they know those languages but speak to people from other provinces in English?

Mandarin is not even that old a language; afaik Mao ruined the alphabet and grammar.
Click to expand...
Why don't Americans learn Spanish?
 
beenherebeforeagain

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
ronki23 said:
Like in India, the majority knows both their regional language and English. Hindi is not a necessity. They use English as the medium

China has Wu, Yue, Min, Hokkien, Hakka, Tibetan and Mongolian so why don't they know those languages but speak to people from other provinces in English?

Mandarin is not even that old a language; afaik Mao ruined the alphabet and grammar.
Click to expand...
Why don't Americans learn Mandarin?
 
Nakosis

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Viviane LaFrance said:
Why don't Americans learn Spanish?
Click to expand...

They need to, a lot of jobs now require you to be bilingual. Most of the Chinese in Singapore speak English. General job career necessity. I suppose it depends on where the money and jobs are.
 
Brickjectivity

Brickjectivity

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
I think in India it is politically less controversial to use English.
Viviane LaFrance said:
Why don't Americans learn Spanish?
Click to expand...
Its a bureaucratic failure in our public school systems which prevents it. Its not even available for most students until grade 9 or later, and by then it is much more difficult.
 
Subduction Zone

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Brickjectivity said:
I think in India it is politically less controversial to use English.

Its a bureaucratic failure in our public school systems which prevents it. Its not even available for most students until grade 9 or later, and by then it is much more difficult.
Click to expand...
India has quite a few dialects. The language varies so much that people from different areas do not understand each other. English is a "universal language" there because there is only one version. But you are somewhat right about it being less controversial than the various dialects. If one dialect was chosen the speakers of others would not be pleased.
 
S

ScottySatan

Well-Known Member
Subduction Zone said:
India has quite a few dialects. The language varies so much that people from different areas do not understand each other. English is a "universal language" there because there is only one version. But you are somewhat right about it being less controversial than the various dialects. If one dialect was chosen the speakers of others would not be pleased.
Click to expand...


So why not use Hindi? Is that a politically charged language too?
 
ronki23

ronki23

Well-Known Member
Viviane LaFrance said:
Why don't Americans learn Spanish?
Click to expand...

beenherebeforeagain said:
Why don't Americans learn Mandarin?
Click to expand...

Because in America they speak DIALECTS of the same language- English

In India the languages other than Hindi include Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, Marwari, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil, Telugu and Malayam. Absolutely no need to learn Hindi if you've got the local languages that are unintelligible; just use English (which they do).

In China they speak Yue, Min, Wu, Hakka, Hokkien, Tibetan and Mongolian; all of which are unintelligible from one another. No point whatsoever learning Mandarin; just use English
 
Brickjectivity

Brickjectivity

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Audie

Audie

Veteran Member
ronki23 said:
Because in America they speak DIALECTS of the same language- English

In India the languages other than Hindi include Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, Marwari, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil, Telugu and Malayam. Absolutely no need to learn Hindi if you've got the local languages that are unintelligible; just use English (which they do).

In China they speak Yue, Min, Wu, Hakka, Hokkien, Tibetan and Mongolian; all of which are unintelligible from one another. No point whatsoever learning Mandarin; just use English
Click to expand...

What makes you think that does not happen?
 
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