Mandarin Chinese

Ni hao!

Mandarin Chinese has become one of the most popular foreign languages in recent years. China has become an economic powerhouse, and more and more companies do business in that country every year.

Here are some interesting facts about this language:

Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world (based on the number of native-language speakers) with 873 million native speakers, Spanish is second with 322 million native speakers and English is third with 309 million native speakers. (Ethnologue, 2005 estimates)

Mandarin is the the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China, the official language of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of the four official languages of Singapore.

Mandarin is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

The U.S. Department of Education gives FLAP grants (Foreign Language Assistance Program) to innovative K–12 foreign-language programs in critical languages. Mandarin is one of them.

The College Board decided for the first time this year to offer an AP test in Mandarin. Over 2,400 high schools expressed interest in the new AP program.

No major economy in the last century has grown at the pace now under way in China. In 2007, China overtook Germany to become the world's third-largest economy, behind the United States and Japan. (NY Times, July 20, 2007)

Based on recent growth rates, China's economy will surpass that of the U.S. in purchasing power between 2012 and 2015; by 2025, China is likely to be the world's largest economic power by almost any measure. (Holz, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

As you can see, a knowledge of Mandarin Chinese is indispensible for anyone who does international business, especially in China.

So, how can one in the San Diego area learn Chinese and advance their career? Easy...enroll in Language Door San Diego's Mandarin Chinese program!

For more information on our Chinese classes, please visit the following link:

http://www.languagedoor.com/san_diego_languages/chinese_without_char.html