Much Mandarin

As you may know, Mandarin Chinese is the official language of mainland China and Taiwan and is the most widely-spoken language in the world. However, the origins of Mandarin Chinese are more difficult to trace than many other languages due to the variety of dialects used throughout China. The dialect that is now referred to as the official language is the Beijing dialect but there are there are a variety of Mandarin dialects spoken throughout China.

There are several sites on the web that delve into the origins of this language. Wikipedia has a page called the “History of Standard Mandarin”  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Standard_Mandarin) which discusses the adoption of Mandarin Chinese by China as the most influential and eventually the official language. It also compares “Modern Standard Mandarin” vs “Historic Mandarin”.

About.com has a page discussing the history of Mandarin, as well as Chinese characters, Pinyin, and the Chinese language family (http://mandarin.about.com/od/chineseculture/a/intro_mandarin.htm)

Another summary of historical aspects of the language can be found on LanguageTutoring.co.ik (http://www.languagetutoring.co.uk/HistoryofMandarinChinese.html). It reviews the beginnings and history of Mandarin Chinese and also compares it to Cantonese.

Here are some other sites that have similar discussions regarding the history and origins of Mandarin Chinese:

• http://www.todaytranslations.com/language-history/chinese-language-history
• http://www.linguaphone.com.my/chinese2.php
• http://www.zimbio.com/Linguistics/articles/372/3+History+Mandarin+Chinese+Language
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/361585/Mandarin-language

There are likely many other sites out there with information on this subject but these sites present a wide array of data on the Mandarin Chinese language’s history.

Why should I learn Chinese?
There are several reasons to learn Mandarin Chinese - for business, travel, cultural, etc. The most obvious reason to learn Mandarin Chinese is because it it the most widely spoken language in the world and the primary language of the next superpower (saying ‘next’ at this point may even be outdated). China, as you’ve probably heard a million times already is emerging as the second most important / powerful country in the world behind the US. And with the state of the US right now, it may even become number one. 

Business
China and the US are intertwined economically. US companies are dependant on China and vice versa. As such learning Chinese can give you a competative advantage in certain industries such as finance and technology. More on this in future posts.

Travel 
China is an amazing country to travel to from the history in Beijing to the hustle and bustle of Shanghai - not to mention other cities such as Xi’an, Qingdao, Chegdu, etc. Yes, a lot of Chinese people speak English but it is definitely not as wide spoken as it is in Europe. Shanghai for example seems to have a larger amount of English speakers due to the Western nature of the city. However, I found that in Beijing, English seems to be spoken much less. Of course, you don’t need to be fluent in Chinese to travel there, just learn some survival Chinese before you go.

Culture
China has one of the oldest continuous civilizations around (over 5000 years). Knowing how to speak Chinese will connect you with this fascinatin culture. 

There will be more to come on these topics in future blogs.