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未来属于英文还是中文?

未来属于英文还是中文?

Is English or Mandarin the language of the future?

(Click on the above link to read the BBS News article and comments on it)

Below is my response to the above article and some comments on it . One comment says that Mandarin is too difficult to learn for it to become a world language, and I felt I had to respond.
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Mandarin Will Likely Rule the Future

未来很可能是普通话的天下

The argument that Mandarin is too hard to learn for it to become a language of the future misses the fact that children can learn any language regardless of it being difficult or not. (For children, one language is just as hard or easy as another anyways.)

The matter of the fact is that if a language becomes the first choice of a second language to learn throughout the world for whatever reason, as English is at the moment, it *will* replace English to become the future lingua franca of the world. Will parents send their children to English-as-a-second-language programs or Mandarin-as-a-second language programs? Will schools replace ESL programs with MSL programs? In other words, will Mandarin become the first choice of a second language to learn globally? I certainly would not rule out that possibility. In fact, I'd even venture to say that there is a high probability there given what we see at the moment: Mandarin as a second language teaching and learning is fastly gaining popularity in many parts of the world, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

So, I'd say that unless the Rise of China is for some reason stopped or slowed down dramatically (due to large scale internal social upheavals, for instance), Mandarin is going to become a formidable global competition for English sooner than we think.

Lin, Hua, University of Victoria, Canada  加拿大维多利亚大学林华
Originally posted on Language Teaching Professionals on Facebook on Feb. 24, 2012.

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对不起,上面全是英文

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回复 1# 的帖子

There is no doubt in my mind. The only reason English is the dominant language is because it is the primary language of biggest super powers. It coud have easily been German or Russian if the world war had different ending. Language difficulty is one thing, but it won't stop people from learning the most beneficial and influential language.

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回复 3# 的帖子

Well said, ssu01 !!

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一花独放不是春 百花齐放春满园

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语言只是一种现象,其本质还是文化的变迁,农业统治(社会),工业统治,科技统治,下一步是文化统治,很多国家早就看到了这点,所以他们一边试图扼杀又一边别试图学习东方文化(应该不仅仅局限于中国文化)。

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我虽然分享 MrGrant 的美好愿望,但是大家都知道 Globalization 的速度有多快,能量有多大,只怕是 Globalization 的历史列车是无情的,会不以包括你我在内的任何人的意志为转移而把众多的语言碾碎在它的巨轮之下,最后的能生存下来的应该是达尔文所定义的为数不多的一些”适者“。

仅仅就目前情形来判断 (假定历史按目前的轨迹发展下去),中文应该是“适者”之一。

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同意 chinadian 和 ssu01 说法,语言仅仅是现象,它的命运取决于文化,利益,所使用民族强大与否等语言之外的因素。

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(发自北京)

林老师是专家, 语言学上的高论完全尊重。

中国现在的兴起是不可否认的事实.  不过对这种快速兴起的看法(贫富分化,代价,后果,影响 ... ...)要看在哪儿看了, "幕外"和"幕后"看法不尽相同.  亲戚昨天还在说呢, 最近年轻人里不育症比例大增, 医院"生殖"科门诊非常紧俏.  本人不认始"幕内"人士, 可能那儿的看法更有不同, 不然怎么都要把子孙们送到别国去呢?  或许出来(不是要学英文而)是要推广中文的吧。

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回复 9# 的帖子

羡慕您能在这个时候在北京,不冷不热的,我每次回国都只能是在酷夏。

我真诚的愿望是中国能够稳步地向前发展。当然不能不承认极端的腐败,贫富快速两级分化,严重的空气环境和食品污染(造成不孕症的原因?)等等众多的弊端将是这一发展的一些巨大的绊脚石,中国崛起是否有长久的生命力only time can tell。

中文的命运也许是由于这一生命力的前途未卜而未可知之?

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One more reason why English speakers learn Chinese

I was at the walk-in clinic yesterday with my kid, two middle-aged men started to practice their not -so-good Mandarin with us. We were "chatting" in Chinese while waiting the whole time with lots of laughter. The impression I got from our friendly chat was that  they love Chinese people and our culture so that learned the language. My conclusion is: 我们中国人不招人讨厌,“洋人”们喜欢我们人,也就会想学我们的语言了。国强民善,自然招人待见不是?

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本人属脑残之流,孤漏寡闻。我没听说几个学中文的西人,只见每日剧增,砸锅卖铁都要送子女出国的老中,留学年龄越来越小。国内亚丝,托福报名都难。

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回复楼上 OMG 的帖子

短短两行字,说得句句在理,字字珠玑,怎么会属脑残之流呢?是大智若愚吧?

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回复 13# 的帖子

您的外国朋友和中国朋友的比例决定了您看到的数据吧?数据统计的失真原因之一?
我不知道真实数据是什么....单纯从数据分析角度来解释这个现象可能出现的原因...

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绝对是英文

肯定是英文, 中国的科技, 政治制度根本引导不了世界,  中国牛的只有GDP, 跟大清一样, GDP世界第一, 但在国际上还是被人鄙视.

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看一下这个图表

附件

20130513.pdf (88.13 KB)

2013-5-13 19:40, 下载次数: 52

这是去年普通话一年级的一个学生提供的

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回复 17# 的帖子

不好意思,不知道该怎样把图片直接贴上去

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引用:
原帖由 中文学校 于 2013-5-13 19:41 发表
不好意思,不知道该怎样把图片直接贴上去
没关系,图是PDF格式,可以下载。

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回复 19# 的帖子

多谢您的理解。

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