Aberdeen News – Lawrence Diggs Roslyn
“China is now officially the world’s largest economy. Our U.S. economy depends on China’s cheap goods and loans to float our economy. This points to how important it is for our children to learn another language. China’s new world economic position is not the only reason children should be learning another language. Mandarin, the main language spoken there, isn’t the only language that should be required of our high school and university graduates. But this is a wake-up call that the world our children will live in is not the one we imagine we live in. The world they’ll live in will require they communicate with people at eye level. They can’t do that if they can’t speak a language other than their own while others are multi-lingual…Why shouldn’t most of our children should be able to speak fluently with the citizens of the world’s largest economy in Mandarin, especially when our economy is so dependent on them? Why shouldn’t our children be able to speak the language of both countries we have borders with? We’re proud of our “world power” status, but what does it mean to call yourself a “world power” or a “world leader” when so many people speak your language and know your culture, but you lack the ability to converse with them in their language about their culture. “(more)