Should Japan start learning Chinese

anomouse · 15 Jul 2008

1. China is a rising power.
2. China is Japan's neighbor. Understanding one's neighbor is beneficial.
3. Chinese is similar to Japanese at the vocabulary level
4. Helps understanding the Japanese language itself
5. Globalization does not mean Americanization
6. It's spoken in several Asian countries. China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan.

Why not start now?
Europe is multilingual, Japan can too???

Mycernius · 16 Jul 2008

Europe might be multi-lingual, but the the official languages of the EU government are English and French. There are also moves to just have it as English. If anything they should all learn English. More people in China learning English at any one time than the entire population of the US. It is the international trading language, it is the langauge of air and sea and it is the lingua franca of the net.

nice gaijin · 16 Jul 2008

"Europe" and Japan aren't exactly ripe for comparison.

That said, there are Japanese people learning Chinese. Are you suggesting they make it mandatory? What kind of language retention do you expect from compulsory Chinese lessons, when their English program is already such a spectacular failure?

One thing I do agree with is that globalization doesn't necessarily mean Americanization/Westernization. As a westerner it's easy to pretend that my own culture is and forever will be dominant in the world. I think it's important for westerners with such a mindset to expand their own global view by traveling or living abroad and learning a foreign language.

butakun · 16 Jul 2008

Mycernius said:
Europe might be multi-lingual, but the the official languages of the EU government are English and French.

EU has 23 official languages, though I don't deny English and French are de facto standard.

Emoni · 16 Jul 2008

I think you make a very good point, although I really think you could put your argument together better.

Mandatory might be going overboard, but I always thought that there should be a CHOICE on which language to learn in schools. Seriously, English isn't the only worthwhile language to learn and Chinese is way up there. It's not like they do a good job of teaching English anyway!

I took Chinese in Japan for about a year. The Japanese students seemed to treat it almost as a form of "Spanish" to our English. Sorry if that comparison isn't exactly helpful, but with the kanji already existing, similarities and such helped them gain a quick understanding of the sentences and words...

Only problem is their pronunciation was just AWFUL and they didn't seem to have a clue how to say anything correctly. The concept of correct pronunciation seems to be very absent... I took basic Korean too. Korean in Katakan that is... at a university level. F'ing pathetic and I rolled my eyes when I figured out that it wasn't the Hangul that most students were reading, it was the katakana on the right page of the dialog! Of course I had my own problems understanding the book explanations, but while in Japanese they were better than most English books.

Yes, I think there is a strong case for learning Chinese. However, Japan's language study and teaching sector has a long way to go.

Eugeniu · 22 Jul 2008

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to have Japanese students learn a language as confusing as Mandarin. Or Shanghainese. (however you spell it) Or other Chinese languages.

caster51 · 22 Jul 2008

Spanish is the easiest language for the Japanese to learn...

Elizabeth · 23 Jul 2008

Eugeniu said:
Yeah, it doesn't make sense to have Japanese students learn a language as confusing as Mandarin. Or Shanghainese. (however you spell it) Or other Chinese languages.

It's not only such a cut and dried linguistic issue. The Japanese I know don't have any particular desire to travel to China out of a basic concern for their health and well-being, a legitimate fear in many cases how they would be treated by the Chinese people.

undrentide · 23 Jul 2008

Elizabeth said:
It's not only such a cut and dried linguistic issue. The Japanese I know don't have any particular desire to travel to China out of a basic concern for their health and well-being, a legitimate fear in many cases how they would be treated by the Chinese people.

China is one of the most popular destinations for Japanese tourists...

anomouse · 23 Jul 2008

Japan was quick adapting to changes in the 19 century, and things have been changing since then, Japan is unprepared for the changes that are taking place this time.

Kayumi · 27 Jul 2008

Knowing Chinese is ALWAYS a plus since they are becoming a superpower. I myself will learn it for 5 years at the University, with hopes of having a good job.If I speak mandarin will I have more chances to be hired in Japan (by that time I'll know 5 languages).

Dogen Z · 28 Jul 2008

They've already started

Mandarin is already gaining popularity in Japan--more classes are being offered. And as more Chinese tourists/business people come here (and Japanese people go there), it will become even more popular.

One of my business professors told us, about 15 years ago, that it would be better to learn Chinese than Japanese, if we were going to learn another language. I didn't listen then but I'd like to learn Mandarin now---I like the sound of it (but not Cantonese--apologies to Cantonese speakers). But I still need to perfect my Japanese and have a long way to go.

korp · 30 Aug 2008

Yes, I think we all should. Mandarin and Hindi should be known by all

gaijinalways · 31 Aug 2008

With studying a language, I would think it would depend on what one hopes to do later. That being said, natural choices might be English or Chinese. Which one a person in Japan would study might depend on their interests, the industries they hope to work in, and far they hope to work from home.

grapefruit · 2 Sep 2008

Japanese are better at picking up tone than those who speak an European language as their mother tongue. Besides, tons of cognate words help learning the language.

kireikoori · 7 Sep 2008

No. Japan and China should continue focusing on learning English.
English is still the internation language. When that changes, that will change.
China is growing in power, but this has still not changed.

Furthermore, I think people should have available the languages they want to learn more easily. In class form with they can get official credit for.

It seems I was beated to this by Emoni, but I had already written this before seeing it, and I would want to forward that opinion anyway.

grapefruit · 8 Sep 2008

How about stop wasting time learning classical Chinese (Kanbun) and instead start learning modern Chinese, while maintaining English education?

hanachan · 13 Sep 2008

grapefruit said:
How about stop wasting time learning classical Chinese (Kanbun) and instead start learning modern Chinese, while maintaining English education?

Learning classical Chinese is a part of learning Japanese. It's not wasting time for Japanese. It's very interesting to know how ancient Japanese understood Chinese language and they invented "pronouncing Chinese classics in the Japanese way" (ﾅ?ﾂｿ窶｢ﾂｶﾅ単窶愿??邸).
As a result, we use Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana together, today.

grapefruit · 19 Sep 2008

There is no doubt that learning classical texts has value. Whether it is classical Japanese, classical Chinese, and Latin, you learn something.

I don't know if education should purely focus on usefulness of knowledge or broadening of perspectives, so I will take back what I said: it is not a waste of time to learn classical texts if the purpose of education is to broaden the way of thought.

But, the techniques like 窶｢ﾃ披?堙ｨ窶彑 and ﾆ椎停?彑 should be replaced with a more direct method. Comprehension of sentences without re-ordering words will certainly enhance one's ability to learn a foreign language that has a different word order.

Besides, during the early periods of kanbun learning (in the Nara period), students studied Chinese classics following the original word order with the original Chinese pronunciation. In the same vein, it is attainable to comprehend text without reading aloud. Only when one reads out aloud, the order of words can be switched.

jenniferedwards · 13 Oct 2008

I think a person who knows English can communicate in each and every part of the world. I think either a person is Japanese or Chinese ,he or she must learn english

Should Japan start learning Chinese

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