[lbo-talk] Asia rising.......

Dennis Redmond dredmond at efn.org
Mon Feb 7 11:22:39 PST 2005


Jon Johanning wrote:


>> No more so than any other language. Ideographic languages aren't
>> necessarily more difficult than alphabetic languages; in some ways
>> Chinese
>> is simpler than English -- e.g. grammar.
>
> Have you actually tried learning Chinese yourself? Or Japanese?

I've picked up a few words and phrases. They're not impossible to learn - just different. I think it's more a question of what is taught in the secondary schools -- which in the US is still mostly Spanish, French and German:

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d03/tables/dt057.asp


> How many American students take and complete degrees in these languages
> compared with European languages?

Don't know about completion, but enrollments are up:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905275.html

The job market for foreign language teachers, on the other hand, remains appalling.

-- DRR



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