The Future- Entering a Bilingual world

http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/being-bilingual-gives-brains-a-boost/

Since English is unlikely to decline, while Mandarin continues to grow, there is a growing belief that the future will be a bilingual one. In fact, in many of the South East Asian countries there have been an increasing language shift towards Mandarin and English. The most obvious example is Singapore. Due to its colonial background, it has no surprise that English has been an important language in Singapore, yet with China’s continued emergence as a key player in the world economy, the government is now encouraging Singaporean Chinese to learn Mandarin in order to be competitive. Besides, English has an important value in the Philippines as it is the medium of instruction over Filipino in science and mathematics. However, believing that ‘Chinese language would boost the Filipino’s aptitude needed in trade relations, research and person-to-person relations’ the Philippines has recently considered including Mandarin in the educational curriculum. It is predictable that there will be more and more bilinguals in SE Asia who are able to speak both English and Mandarin.

More importantly, we can never neglect the enormous English learners in China. Though the economic growth of China is boosting, people in China are still very eager to learn English as it is believed that this may enhance their opportunities for employment in international trade Of course, the surge of Chinese-English translators in Chinese or Foreign funded enterprises also contribute to boost people’s desire in learning English. According to Zhang, there are at least 350 million English learners in China, in order words, there are now over 300 million bilinguals in China, more than the total populations of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Even though China and its language are growing rapidly, it cannot achieve greater success alone. Let us take trading as an example. No matter how strong the purchasing power is of China, it always needs a business partner to trade with. In a deeper degree, issues such as the stability of the global economy and climate change can only be solved by the co-operation between nations. This is why, neither English nor Mandarin can stand alone and simply dominate the world in the foreseeable future since the world will be more globalized and nations will become more inter-dependent. We Chinese have a wise aphorism, ‘When you are in a common boat you need to cross the river peacefully together’. So a bilingual world created by English and Mandarin working hand in hand will be the most likely situation in the next decade.

Reference:

1.          Angel, Lin. 2009. Bilinugal Education: Southeast Asian Perspectives. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

2.          Antonio L., Rappa and Lionel, Wee. "Language Policy and Modernity in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand." Language Policy (6). 2006:1-141.

3.          James E., Alatis and Ai Hui, Tan (ed.). 2001. Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1999. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

4.          Shengyong, Zhang. "English as a Global Lanugage in Chinese Context." Theory and Practice in Lanuguage Studies 1, 2(2011): 167-176.

Edited by Ingrid .