Teach your kids spanish or mandarin?

[Deleted]

I'm trying to decide if learning spanish would be helpful for my child. Do you think that it will be a useful skill in the US 20 years from now? The demographic trends seem to indicate it might be.

I was thinking about it because of this article by Nichols Kristof

Primero Hay Que Aprender Español. Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen.

A quiz: If a person who speaks three languages is trilingual, and one who speaks four languages is quadrilingual, what is someone called who speaks no foreign languages at all?

Answer: an American.

Yet these days, we’re seeing Americans engaged in a headlong and ambitious rush to learn Chinese — or, more precisely, to get their kids to learn Chinese. Everywhere I turn, people are asking me the best way for their children to learn Chinese.

Partly that’s because Chinese classes have replaced violin classes as the latest in competitive parenting, and partly because my wife and I speak Chinese and I have tortured our three kids by trying to raise them bilingual. Chinese is still far less common in schools or universities than Spanish or French, but it is surging and has the “cool factor” behind it — so public and private schools alike are hastening to add Chinese to the curriculum.

In New York City alone, about 80 schools offer Chinese, with some programs beginning in kindergarten. And let’s be frank: If your child hasn’t started Mandarin classes by third grade, he or she will never amount to anything.

Just kidding. In fact, I think the rush to Chinese is missing something closer to home: the paramount importance for our children of learning Spanish.

Look, I’m a fervent believer in more American kids learning Chinese. But the language that will be essential for Americans and has far more day-to-day applications is Spanish. Every child in the United States should learn Spanish, beginning in elementary school; Chinese makes a terrific addition to Spanish, but not a substitute.

Spanish may not be as prestigious as Mandarin, but it’s an everyday presence in the United States — and will become even more so. Hispanics made up 16 percent of America’s population in 2009, but that is forecast to surge to 29 percent by 2050, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center.

As the United States increasingly integrates economically with Latin America, Spanish will become more crucial in our lives. More Americans will take vacations in Latin America, do business in Spanish, and eventually move south to retire in countries where the cost of living is far cheaper.

We’re already seeing growing numbers of Americans retire in Costa Rica, drawn by weather and lifestyle as well as low costs and good health care. We’ll also see more and more little bits of Florida that just happen to be located in Mexico, Panama or Dominican Republic.

Another reason to bet on Spanish is that Latin America is, finally, getting its act together. Of all regions of the world, it was arguably Latin America that rode the recent economic crisis most comfortably. That means that Spanish study does more than facilitate piña coladas on the beach at Cozumel. It’ll be a language of business opportunity in the coming decades. We need to turn our competitive minds not only east, but also south.

Moreover, Spanish is easy enough that kids really can emerge from high school with a very useful command of the language that they will retain for life, while Mandarin takes about four times as long to make the same progress. Chinese has negligible grammar — no singular or plural, no verb conjugations, no pesky masculine and feminine nouns — but there are thousands of characters to memorize as well as the landmines of any tonal language.

The standard way to ask somebody a question in Chinese is “qing wen,” with the “wen” in a falling tone. That means roughly: May I ask something? But ask the same “qing wen” with the “wen” first falling and then rising, and it means roughly: May I have a kiss?

That’s probably why trade relations are so strained between our countries. Our negotiators think they’re asking questions about tariffs, and the Chinese respond indignantly that kissing would be inappropriate. Leaving both sides confused.

In effect, Chinese is typically a career. Spanish is a practical add-on to your daily life, meshing with whatever career you choose. If you become a mechanic, you’ll be able to communicate better with some customers. If you’re the president, you’ll campaign more effectively in Texas and Florida.

China will probably be the world’s largest economy within our children’s lifetimes and a monumental force in every dimension of life. Studying Chinese gives you insight into one of the world’s great civilizations and creates a wealth of opportunities — plus, it’ll be a godsend if you’re ever called upon to pronounce a name like, say, Qin Qiuxue.

So, by all means, have your kids dive into the glamorous world of Mandarin. But don’t forget the language that will likely be far more important in their lives: el idioma más importante es Español!

(In case you were wondering, that headline says: First learn Spanish. Then study Chinese.)

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

If one looks at trends in population shifts and what is happening in the US, I would toss out that going to college and studying social Work as a major, and learning to speak fluent Spanish would be excellent choices.

[thyme4change]

Best way to learn spanish is to hire a spanish speaking nanny.

[cubefarmer]

I would go with Spanish.

[Gardening Grandma]

My grandson is taking his first year of Spanish (7th grade). I think it could be very useful to him from a practical perspective. But I also think that studying any foreign language is a good thing.

[Deleted]

Farsi.

Actually we're doing Rosetta Stone Latin at the moment... figure its a good base for languages / vocabulary...

[Tiny]

I might be biased I've worked for international companys (in areas that handle "global" sorts of stuff) for decades. HAVE YOUR KIDS LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!! I only speak English (gee thanks mom and dad you learned your parents native tongue you could have taught us kids!!! OK, it's not really their fault they were the children of immigrants and back in the olden days speaking a foreign language was 'bad' and made their immigrant family look unAmerican)
Anyway, most of the people I work with speak additional languages - we support and deal with people in our international offices all the time. It's usually conducted in English - but not always. Thankfully I'm a techie person and speak fairly fluent "Geek" - enough "geek" to get the technical problems solved (or at least understood) when dealing with the non-English (or poorly English speaking) geeks in the other offices. Most of my co-workers speak English and then another language (Spanish, mandarin, a couple of different Indian languages, French, and German). I'm the odd woman out with my single language.

I don't think it really matters what language your kids learn - I'd probably choose one that has a lot of support from the local school system - where they learn more about the history/customs/culture of the people who speak that language. I think learning that people all around the world are different but with many similiar qualities is a good thing.

I suspect that knowing Spanish, French, German, or Mandarin or Japanese would be a plus no matter where in the world you were - other than America... and might even be a plus if you were to work for an International company.

[phil5185]

Yet these days, we’re seeing Americans engaged in a headlong and ambitious rush to learn Chinese — or, more precisely, to get their kids to learn Chinese. Everywhere I turn, people are asking me the best way for their children to learn Chinese.
Partly that’s because Chinese classes have replaced violin classes as the latest in competitive parenting,

"These days?" This was going on before I retired in 1998, in our engineering dept, mandarin was being predicted as the career language for engineering, marketing, commerce, etc.

I saw Jimmy Rogers on the Glen Beck show a few days ago, he moved his family to China and his daughter is in second grade in school there. He points out that the schools are far ahead of ours - and that, as China embraces capitalism, it won't be long before their GDP exceeds the US.

[cronewitch]

I personally have never needed a foreign language for work except one job would have been handy. My coworker spoke Ukrainian and Russian she was Ukrainian so she translated for those customers. I replace and was later replaced by Chinese women who translated for the Chinese customers. Middle Eastern customers often brought children to translate. I don't recall any Spanish customers but I suppose there could have been.

We did have a Spanish customer here a couple of years ago. We hired translators for him. He worked for an owner that spoke Portuguese so he needed three languages but wasn't strong in English. He was a ship captain so spent most of his time at sea but dealing in more than one language about ship repairs is worse the conversational languages. Translators we could find weren't very good with the industrial words but better than nothing.

[lynnerself]

I suppose it depends on your career goals.
I am in health care on the west coast.
Spanish would be really helpful, Most of our providers speak at least a little.
Ukranian or vietnamese might be more helpul than Mandrin

[thyme4change]

I don't know how old your kids are, but anything you teach them now will just be a primer to get their brains ready to learn a different language.

[Deleted]

DS just turned 2. He's learning spanish at his preschool and he's picked up some korean from my mom. I was just under the impression that knowing spanish would become less important as time went on because spanish speaking people would assimilate and learn english, at least in the next generation. It was kind of surprising to think that maybe we should focus on spanish, and kind of relieving actually because it's a much easier language.

[Tiny]

I wouldn't just look at the second language from the standpoint of talking to one's neighbors with it. The world keeps getting smaller - I can get foriegn language television via satelite, I've ordered household stuff on-line direct from Japan, China, Germany, Canada, and the UK. I'm limited to the websites that provide an English translation or have an American distribution base - if I knew another language who knows what parts of the world (and web) that would open up to me. There's a chance I wouldn't be limited to just "chats" that are English only...

[Sum Dum Gai]

I was just under the impression that knowing spanish would become less important as time went on because spanish speaking people would assimilate and learn english

I think they will to a large extent. I live in CA, so I understand where the author of the article is coming from. However, around here the immigrant parents might speak only spanish, but their kids all speak english and translate for them. Just like the previous waves of immigrants from other countries. I would actually rather have my daughters learn mandarin, because by the time they're adults China will be the dominant economy in the world.

Sure, we'll still trade with Latin America. There will still be a segment of the population that only speaks spanish. However, there will be a huge segment of the population that's fairly fluent in spanish and english, but only a tiny segment that's anywhere close to fluent in mandarin and english. It'll be a way to make yourself stand out in an economy that's increasingly focused on China.

[ihearyou2]

I would go with Spanish easier to learn and more directly connected to practical situations in America. I wonder how many people will really need to learn Chinese. English is already considered the universal language of business and even if China becomes a larger economic powerhouse then America, I don't see that changing. A lot of ifs in the pro-Chinese camp while Spanish is here and now. If my Spanish was better it would help with my relationships with our warehouse.

[formerexpat]

I'm gonna go against the grain here and say Mandarin.

I can get a job here while speaking English. I don't want to work in Mexico and therefore don't NEED to know Spanish.

However, it's likely that there will be a ton of job opportunities in China in 20 years and those willing and able to speak the language will have an excellent opportunity available to them.

We're going to teach our children both.

[Poppet]

Wasn't there a time in the 80s when they said we should all learn Japanese?

If you live in the U.S. you need to learn Spanish.

[formerexpat]

If you live in the U.S. you need to learn Spanish.

[/size]

Actually, if you live in the US, you need to learn English.

[dragonfly7]

I think it depends on where you live (or want to live) and/or what they will do for a living. I am job hunting in the Dallas area, and 24 percent of the admin/office jobs posted on Craigslist the past two days are bilingual required or preferred. One local city will only hire library employees who are bilingual in Spanish or Vietnamese.

[Deleted]

I speak/write : French, Creole, Spanish and English... so does my wife.
French and Creole because we are Haitians, and Spanish because the Dominican Republic is our next door neighbor (and for me because stepmom #2 was Dominican).

Speaking different languages helped me when I was in NJ get two jobs; but in my current work really doesn't come into play much.

As for my wife, she was told it would help her tremendously in her career, but so far it hasn't. As a Research Coordinator she deals with Physicians, Researchers, Nurses, other MPH's and doctorates and they all speak english.

We did not have to go out of our way to learn these languages, we were just brought up into it. My 7 year old sister can speak perfect creole and french with no accent. It has helped us in our travels in the past couple of years (Dominican Republic , Mexico, Europe) but career wise would be a no.

[cronewitch]

My boyfriend's half brother made sure his daughters know both Japanese and English equally. He has lived in Japan for the last 15-20 years and married a Japanese woman who speaks English so the girls grew up with both in the home. When they were school age he sent them half each to American and Japanese schools. They just moved to California but even before he brought them every few years for a few weeks.

I had friends born in Poland who had American children and the kids learned Polish at home then English but as they aged they forgot most Polish even when they heard it at home they forgot words. They took them to Poland for 3 months one summer to stay with a grandmother to get immersed in the language.

When you learn a language you need to use it or you will forget it. I knew two women who learned Russian one to teach and one to translate for work and they forgot it when they retired. I took a couple of years of French and have never spoken it except in class. My dad said we should have taken Spanish but we didn't want to. I haven't really ever had occasion to use Spanish except one vacation and once living in a building where everyone else was Cuban.

I don't really think children can know what might be useful as adults. In the cold war years Russian then each war whatever the enemy speaks, trade country language or something specific to an industry or where you live but that changes constantly.

My neighbors mostly are south east Asian or Chinese. I didn't know so many would come after the war in Viet Nam or after the cold war or after relations opened with China when I was a kid. We were only offered French, German and Spanish, my friends and brother all took French together, my brother should have taken Spanish, he lived in Spain two years and his daughter was born in Spain.

[boosmom]

Spanish is not a difficult language to learn. Start off with the Mandarin. If DS wants to learn Spanish when he's older, I'm sure he'll have plenty of opportunities to do so.

[ktunes]

a useful skill in the US 20 years

in 20 years...i'd go with munitions training...lol

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"As for my wife, she was told it would help her tremendously in her career, but so far it hasn't. As a Research Coordinator she deals with Physicians, Researchers, Nurses, other MPH's and doctorates and they all speak english.":::...

But when you are making lawyer and doctor money, she'll be able to fly to Paris to shop, and won't have to worry about a language barrier

I took French because I thought it was classier. Sure, spanish would help me a lot more in the US.

[patchwork150]

I speak English (obv) and Spanish fluently, and am learning German.

I found Spanish to be an excellent skill to have. My part time jobs have all taken me based on the Spanish fluency despite having no experience or background. There are a lot of people that speak Spanish in the US. I have been offered many jobs for the same reason.

Chinese may not be AS useful, but it's another good choice. I would say Spanish should be easier to learn, so start with Spanish and progress on to other languages.

[mudflap81]

Shona and Ndebele, 2 of the 3 official languages of Zimbabwe (the third is English).

I'm thinking about learning Russian or Moldovan. There is a large Moldovan community in my area, and once you learn one of the region's languages, it's very easy to learn the others.

[Deleted]

Will you find someone to tutor you in Moldovan? I haven't found any good resources for Romanian.... now, since their father is fluent, you'd think HE would be a good resource, but somehow it just never worked out that way...

[cubefarmer]

Learning Spanish is not to be able to go to a Spanish speaking country to work, but in order to work in the USA as more and more jobs require employees to be Spanish/English bilingual.

[Deleted]

Jan 22, 2011 7:55:31 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

...:::"As for my wife, she was told it would help her tremendously in her career, but so far it hasn't. As a Research Coordinator she deals with Physicians, Researchers, Nurses, other MPH's and doctorates and they all speak english.":::...

But when you are making lawyer and doctor money, she'll be able to fly to Paris to shop, and won't have to worry about a language barrier

If we are maxing all retirements accounts and still saving some money... I guess why not

[Poppet]

Learning Spanish is not to be able to go to a Spanish speaking country to work, but in order to work in the USA as more and more jobs require employees to be Spanish/English bilingual.

Yep, this is true especially where I live. I don't speak or write Spanish fluently so I can't even apply for a lot of classified jobs at the school district where I work.