Introduction:
The Late External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asserted that ‘Indians and Chinese must learn each other’s language’. Such a strong statement itself proves how China has transformed itself, in the last few decades, from an underdeveloped Nation to a powerhouse global economy. The British Government promoted English in the 19th and 20th century, however, in the 21st century, China started promoting seriously Mandarin Chinese. As far as the study in history shows, English definitely is the global language but the aggressive promotion of Mandarin Chinese may soon take over English and establish its dominance. One notable proof of the fact is that it is the second-most used language on the Internet all over the world. Now let’s look deep how it has spread widely
History and Reasons behind the spread of Mandarin
Approximately 16% of the world population speaks Chinese. Standard Chinese, in the form of Modern Mandarin, is spoken predominantly in Mainland China and Taiwan. In 1948 there were multiple waves of immigration in Middle and Northern China and at that time the literacy of the country was hardly 20%. They all spoke a variant of Mandarin. Thereby the Government continued its effort to standardize the use of Mandarin in schools. As time passed, the radio, television, and eventually computers greatly simplified the task of standardization of Mandarin. The African students are continuously applying for student visas due to China’s investment into African countries and eventually job opportunities. Plus, as compared to the US and Europe there is a marked difference in the tuition fee in Chinese Universities and the formalities of getting a visa are also less. Needless to say, fluency in Mandarin as a global language is making it more important for future endeavors in the world economy. High-ranking companies like be it American, European, or Asian- all of them are doing business in China starting from Apple, Volkswagen, LG, Mitsubishi, Ford, so on and so forth. Interacting and translating in Chinese will enable many Indians to land a job with a high salary. In fact, experts believe that in the import-export business still there is no one to compete with Chinese mass production. Eventually, the demand for business personnel proficient in Mandarin is sky-rocketing. As per an article in the New York Times, China has been eclipsing Japan economically, indirectly pointing out that the Chinese can be a bigger trading partner than the US or Japan. Though few experts have also shown their doubts about whether a character-based language like Mandarin can become a global language. With technological advancement, we are noticing day by day when these smartphones will make learning Mandarin rather easy and those days are not far behind!
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Conclusion
I hope I have been able to satisfy the query of how Mandarin is spreading day by day and what kind of impact its popularity can make! And if this knowledge has hit the right cord, then please book a demo session with Multibhashi. If career is your purpose, then you can really score brownie points with Mandarin by your side. So what are you waiting for ?!!