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The Chinese government recently launched a new website to promote the study and use of the Chinese language. The site offers many different sections to help foster the use of the language by foreigners both in China and abroad. Along with language help, the site also has content devoted to Chinese news and events, teacher training, experiencing China, blogs and a discussion forum.
Over the last week, my brother-in-law has been visiting China with an education delegation from the state of Minnesota. Their mission here in China was to inquire about beginning Chinese language programs in Minnesota Public Schools. As a student of the Chinese language myself, this makes me excited for future Minnesota students, but I also have to admit it makes me jealous these same programs weren’t available to me.
Since I have been in China, the language has been coming slowly, but surely. I spent my high school and college years learning Spanish. While Spanish might be a more practical language to learn for the Midwest or U.S., I feel envious of the opportunity younger students may now have to learn Chinese—a language that may prove to be a valuable asset for them in the future.
I grew up in North Dakota and Minnesota, where football—American football—is king throughout the fall. And, baseball and golf takes center spotlight in the summer. However, now that I am in Beijing, most major American sports, other than basketball, are pretty much ignored over here.
I never really paid much attention to soccer, but it is big here in China...and now even more so since the start of the World Cup. Being the capital city of the most populous country on earth, Beijing is filled with people from all over the world. Just about everywhere you go you can find die-hard supporters for many of the teams playing in this big event.
As I mentioned in a recent post, online marketing in China is growing fast. Another recent article in eMarketer confirms this and reports online advertising is expected to grow 60 percent this year. The eMarketer story also projects outdoor advertising to have an expected growth of 25 percent this year.
When I began studying Chinese a couple of years ago, there were only a few good learning methods. You could either read a book and study diligently, or buy cassettes/CDs and listen for hours while trying to stay focused. Either way, it was difficult to remain disciplined.
Personally, I found the best answer was to move to China! However, if this is an extreme option for you, you’ll be interested to know that over the past two years, methods for learning foreign languages have been improved, thanks to the Internet and podcasts. The creation of websites like chinesepod.com, japanesepod101.com, among others, are revolutionizing the language industry. These websites combine the books, the CDs, and the classroom all into one.