Is Mandarin becoming the global dominant language?

Being a lingua franca, English is the dominant language of the world by being recognized as the official language by the international institutions and the expanding number of non-native speakers. Can Mandarin satisfy the two criteria so as to become another dominant language like English?

Increasing amount of second language speakers and growing recognition

Cases in Asia

Seen as a key skill for people hitching their futures to China’s economic rise, people in many Asian countries are catching up in the race to learn Chinese. Since China is now the biggest trading partner of South Korea, Koreans are signing up for Chinese lessons with zeal. There are 160,000 high school and university students are studying Mandarin, while Koreans are also the largest group of foreigners studying in China. In addition to the case of South Korea, Mandarin is now the most taught foreign language (after English) in Japan and the number of Japanese secondary schools offering Mandarin more than triple between in the last decades. On the other hand, China is becoming the most popular destination for students from Korea, Thailand and Cambodia study abroad. As from the above examples, we can see that the number of non-native speakers is increasing dramatically in Asia.

Case in Europe – The United Kingdom

Mandarin is recognized as an increasingly important international language in the UK where Mandarin is taught in educational institutions as a foreign language. Mandarin Chinese is offered in many Modern Foreign Language Departments (MFLs) in state schools, not only in After School Club but also the regular school timetable. Moreover, the government departments of education in England, Wales and Scotland, together with the British Council, have agreed on a strategy to support the study of Mandarin through direct access to native speakers and school linking. According to a report from Chinese embassy in UK, the number of Chinese language assistants in UK schools has increased from 13 in 2001 to 95 in 2008. These numbers indicate that the demand of learning Mandarin is increasing as more schools to offer Mandarin Chinese in their MFL departments and thus, the number of non-speakers is expanding in the UK.

Case in the US

The economic and linguistics expansion of China has prompted the American government and its people to recognize Mandarin as a ‘language of opportunity’. In Chicago, the largest Chinese-language program in the US has created and there are now 3500 kids, from kindergartners to 12^th graders, learning Mandarin. For many of these students, Mandarin is their third language after English and Spanish. Moreover, as high school kids across the US have been able to take the AP exam for Chinese language and culture established by the College Board, the number of students taking part in the exam has been growing since 2007.

It is true that Mandarin Chinese is already the most popular and ‘must learn’ language in the planet. In fact, there are currently more than 30 million people around the world learning Mandarin as a second language and this number is likely to exceed more 50 million in the next few years.

So...?

All cases above help to understand that Mandarin is certainly becoming a dominant language in the world because of the enormous number of non-native speakers and the positive perceptions towards Mandarin by people all over the world.


References:

1.          Erard, Michael. 2006. 'The Mandarin Offensive'. Wired Mafazine.

2.          Kim, Terri. "Higher Education Reforms in South Korea: public-private problems in internationalising and incorporating universities." Policy Futures in Education 6. 5(2008): 558-568.

3.          Ramzy, Austin. 'Get Ahead, Learn Mandarin'. Time 19 June 2006.

4.          Scherer, Marge (ed.). 2009. Challenging the Whole Child: Reflections on Best Practices in Learning, Teaching, and Leadership. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Edited by Ingrid . Last update at 20th Mar, 2012