tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/mandarin-12396/articlesMandarin – The Conversation2023-12-13T22:00:39Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2184242023-12-13T22:00:39Z2023-12-13T22:00:39ZHow ‘benevolent sexism’ undermines Asian women with foreign accents in the workplace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564585/original/file-20231208-31-f8j7mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=286%2C24%2C5177%2C3612&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To address barriers that racialized women with non-native accents experience in the Canadian workplace, we need to understand what kinds of bias they face.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-benevolent-sexism-undermines-asian-women-with-foreign-accents-in-the-workplace" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Immigrants are critical to the Canadian economy, but their talents are under-utilized due to language and accent discrimination, as immigrants often come from non-English or French speaking countries. </p>
<p>Workers with non-native or foreign accents <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/the-accent-effect-toronto-3-1.4409181">are often discriminated against at work</a>, yet our understanding of this phenomenon is limited because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2591">research on this topic has predominantly focused on men</a>.</p>
<p>However, more than half of Canadian immigrants are women — a statistic that could rise because of <a href="https://smithstonewalters.com/2023/11/08/canada-publishes-immigration-targets-for-2024-2026/">Canada’s ambitious immigration target</a> of half a million permanent residents by 2025. </p>
<p><a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/women-work-and-the-economy/sites/default/files/uploads/files/ircc_knowledge_synthesis_august_23_2021.pdf">Critically, 84 per cent of women immigrants are racialized</a>. To address barriers that racialized women with non-native accents experience in the Canadian workplace, we need to understand what kinds of bias they face. This will help organizations support women immigrants in fully utilizing their talents.</p>
<h2>Accent bias at work</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843231165475">Our recent research</a> examined whether the experiences of women with accents differ from men in the workplace. We did this by exploring how women with non-native English accents — specifically Mandarin — fare in the Canadian job market. </p>
<p>Speaking with a non-native accent involves maintaining speech sounds of one’s native language even after other aspects of speaking English are perfected. That is, speaking with a non-native accent is different from competency or fluency in English. </p>
<p>We used the stereotype content model to conduct our research. This model suggests that all people are judged on two traits: warmth and competence. Warmth is linked to co-operation, while competence is associated with higher status. </p>
<p>Individuals in high-status roles are seen as competent, while those in low-status roles are perceived as less competent. Women are traditionally stereotyped as warm, while men are seen as competent.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An Asian woman in business attire working on a laptop at a desk in a communal office space" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564586/original/file-20231208-21-qlp1dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eighty-four per cent of women immigrants are racialized in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In three separate studies, participants were asked to decide whether they would consider hiring potential candidates for a job opening within their own organization or another organization. Participants were given audio recordings of the candidates in which some of the speakers had accents, while others did not.</p>
<p>Our research revealed that Asian women with a Mandarin accent were seen as more friendly, trustworthy and sincere than Asian women applicants with no accent. We found this bias present in both a volunteer student position and a paid marketing co-ordinator position. These amplified warmth perceptions translated into higher ratings of hireability.</p>
<p>There were no differences in warmth perceptions between Asian men applicants with and without accents. This is because men are not usually expected to show high levels of warmth.</p>
<h2>‘Benevolent sexism’</h2>
<p>On the surface, warmth bias may appear advantageous for Asian women with accents. However, it’s crucial to understand that gendered warmth stereotypes, despite <em>appearing</em> positive, are problematic. </p>
<p>These stereotypes are rooted in “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/benevolent-sexism">benevolent sexism</a>.” These beliefs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491">pigeonhole women into socially acceptable roles</a> by offering women who conform to a sense of affection, idealization and protectiveness. Women who do not conform may face social costs that can negatively affect their career progression.</p>
<p>This kind of sexism is socially acceptable, endorsed by both men and women and rarely seen as problematic. Yet, past research consistently shows that such attitudes undermine women at work. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310365902">managers with benevolent sexist tendencies do not assign challenging assignments to women</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587231178865">investors with similar beliefs are more likely to fund pitches from men</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, we found these seemingly positive effects of amplified warmth evaluations are only observed in industries traditionally considered feminine, such as fashion and cosmetics. In contrast, there are no such positive effects in industries perceived as masculine, like oil and gas. </p>
<p>This warmth bias contributes to occupational gender segregation, funnelling women towards lower-paying and lower-prestige industries and jobs. At the same time, women are being steered away from industries where they are already severely under-represented.</p>
<h2>Addressing bias at work</h2>
<p>At the government level, non-native accents need to be explicitly recognized as a discriminatory factor affecting the job prospects and well-being of immigrants. Workers with accents are aware of and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886318800997">negatively affected by accent discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this awareness, accents are not an explicit protected category under the Canadian Human Rights Act, although they are related to the protected category of national or ethnic origin. This lack of protection undermines the legitimacy of accent discrimination. </p>
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<img alt="An Asian woman giving a presentation to a group of people using a whiteboard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564587/original/file-20231208-17-1pyf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To foster positive attitudes toward accents, racialized women with accents should be in visible and high-status roles in the workplace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the corporate level, race and gender biases are commonly addressed in equity and diversity initiatives, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2018/12/30/bias-is-your-accent-holding-you-back/">but accent bias is often overlooked</a>. To fight accent bias, more awareness needs to be raised about accents and how they affect racialized women in the workforce. Recruitment and hiring processes also need to be more objective by focusing on assessing job-relevant knowledge, skills and abilities.</p>
<p>Organizations and managers should foster positive employee attitudes toward accents by emphasizing the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/09/13/the-benefits-of-cultural-diversity-in-the-workplace/">benefits of a multicultural workforce</a>. Equally important is ensuring there are racialized women with accents in visible and high-status roles. </p>
<p>This stands in contrast to a popular solution of “accent reduction.” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/31/accent-reduction-racist-or-empowering-a-look-at-the-controversy.html">Accent reduction programs stigmatize accents</a> by suggesting they need to be corrected. Instead of focusing on what workers with accents can do to “fit in,” organizations need to focus on removing systemic barriers that workers with accents face.</p>
<p>Our research serves as a reminder to not evaluate workers based on stereotypes. Even purportedly positive stereotypes can undermine the careers of racialized women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ivona Hideg's research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Hancock's research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Winny Shen's research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p>Recent research explores how women with non-native English accents — specifically Mandarin — fare in the Canadian job market.Ivona Hideg, Associate Professor and Ann Brown Chair in Organization Studies, York University, CanadaSamantha Hancock, Assistant Professor, DAN Department of Management & Organizational Studies, Western UniversityWinny Shen, Associate Professor of Organization Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1656082021-08-18T03:51:19Z2021-08-18T03:51:19ZIndonesia tries to embrace Chinese language but problems persist<p>With China’s growing global clout, many people around the world are increasingly realising the importance of understanding China better. </p>
<p>In countries where China’s investments are expanding such as <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2004-04-04-0404040095-story.html">South Korea and Africa</a>, interest in learning Chinese is booming. They believe mastering the language will help them understand Chinese norms, culture and policies, which will help them to interact with China.</p>
<p>This, however, has not happened in Indonesia, where China’s foothold has grown exponentially in recent years. </p>
<p>Failing to understand China’s national language (Mandarin) will prevent Indonesia from taking the full benefits from its economic relationship with China, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/despite-covid-19-indonesia-china-relations-continue-to-develop/">Indonesia’s top trading partner and largest investor</a>. </p>
<h2>Chinese language problems in Indonesia</h2>
<p>Indonesia is home to around <a href="https://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?chinese-diaspora">7 million ethnic Chinese</a> people or <a href="https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2016/12/13/indonesia-populasi-etnis-cina-terbanyak-di-dunia">3.3% of the total population</a>. </p>
<p>Despite some progress promoting Chinese language in Indonesia, the country has been unable to create an environment conducive to learning Chinese — due to mostly political reasons. </p>
<p>It began with Indonesia’s New Order authoritarian regime under president Suharto, who <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3351260">decided</a> to freeze ties with China in 1967, in an effort to contain the spread of communism. </p>
<p>Suharto issued <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2643578">various policies</a> to clamp down Chinese language schools and Chinese language newspapers. He also issued a regulation to force naturalisation of Chinese descendants, which led to decades of stigmatisation. This resulted in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2643578">a decrease</a> in Chinese language ability among Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese because <a href="https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/02/02/14180091/peran-bahasa-mandarin-menjembatani-hubungan-china-indonesia-3.">they believed learning the language would not be useful </a>.</p>
<p>The fourth Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid <a href="https://voi.id/en/memori/32721/chinese-new-year-in-indonesia-forbidden-by-soeharto-liberated-by-gus-dur">abolished</a> the discriminative policy 1999.</p>
<p>Afterwards, there was an initial <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">rush</a> to learn the Chinese language. </p>
<p>Private schools started Chinese language lessons. Some schools offer curriculum using Indonesian, English and Chinese. They are called trilingual schools. Some offer tuition classes. </p>
<p>These education institutions have become important actors in spreading and growing the Chinese language in Indonesia.</p>
<p>However, Indonesia’s educational system for Chinese language <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">has not met the international standard</a>. China’s official state agency has administered Chinese language competence, called Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK). However, this has not been followed thoroughly in Indonesia.</p>
<p>Willy Berlian, Chairman of Indonesian Federation of Chinese Education has <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">said</a> that even though the formal school system has added Chinese language education and listed Chinese language under foreign language teaching, fully integrating Chinese language education into the Indonesian education system remains difficult. That’s due to <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">no rules or standards being applied</a> by Chinese language institutions in Indonesia, meaning many people simply muddle through.</p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">the lack of teaching staff</a> has also hampered teaching Chinese language in public schools.</p>
<h2>The government’s inadequate efforts to promote Chinese language</h2>
<p>Until 2005, there were no universities in Indonesia that had a Chinese language teacher education program. </p>
<p>The government’s regulation requires an university to have a minimum of six lecturers with a master’s qualification in Chinese language education. </p>
<p>As long as universities do not provide Chinese language education study programs, it’s hard for Indonesia to produce Chinese language teachers.</p>
<p>Supported by the Chinese community in Indonesia, Indonesia’s Ministry of Education has tried to increase the number of Chinese language courses in different formal education institutions in various provinces.</p>
<p>The number of Chinese language courses has been <a href="https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/02/02/14180091/peran-bahasa-mandarin-menjembatani-hubungan-china-indonesia-">growing rapidly</a>. From four big cities, namely Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Bandung in West Java, and Medan in North Sumatra in 2000, it spread to 20 provinces in Indonesia in 2019.</p>
<p>The Indonesian government has also tried to <a href="https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/02/02/14180091/peran-bahasa-mandarin-menjembatani-hubungan-china-indonesia-">send teaching staff</a> to China to attend training in teaching Chinese language and <a href="https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/02/02/14180091/peran-bahasa-mandarin-menjembatani-hubungan-china-indonesia-">invited Chinese instructors to Indonesia</a>.</p>
<p>However, this was not very successful as schools have to pay visa fees for hiring new teachers, and <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">many schools cannot afford the cost</a>. </p>
<p>Things only gradually began to change when <a href="https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/chinas-confucius-institutes-in-indonesia-walking-a-fine-line/">an initiative formed under cooperation between Chinese and Indonesian educational institutes</a>, called Confucius Institutes (CI), was established for the first time in 2011.</p>
<p>They teach Chinese language, train teachers or prospective teachers, and carry out HSK tests.</p>
<p>The CI opens opportunities for Indonesian universities to partner with Chinese universities to open undergraduate programs in Chinese language. </p>
<p>It also offers scholarships for Indonesians to learn Chinese language in China, so when they return, they can teach. </p>
<p>However, many of those returning from China <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">prefer</a> instead to work Chinese companies, which pay them double than being teachers. </p>
<p>Although the scholarship contract stipulates that they have to teach Chinese language on their return, many students <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinese-language-alive-or-dying-indonesia">do not fulfil the contract</a> and choose to join Chinese companies instead.</p>
<h2>A wake up call</h2>
<p>It is crucial to recognise the importance of overcoming linguistic-cultural barriers in Indonesia-China relations.</p>
<p>By understanding the language, Indonesia would have more people acquainted with Chinese societal norms and customs, methods of doing business and national and institutional interests. </p>
<p>This could result in a more appropriate formulation of policy towards China, which then eventually lead to the more fruitful relations between both countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Failing to understand the language will prevent Indonesia from reaping the full benefits of its economic relationship with China.Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, Lecturer in International Relations, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) YogyakartaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1640802021-08-02T05:05:34Z2021-08-02T05:05:34ZThinking of taking a language in year 11 and 12? Here’s what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414057/original/file-20210802-54837-1le0qhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/learning-languages-online-audiobooks-concept-books-345187850">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">series</a> providing school students with evidence-based advice for choosing subjects in their senior years.</em></p>
<p>Some students elect to study languages in their senior years because of personal interest, or because they have previously been successful in language learning. Others may choose to do so because of future career plans, or because they wish to further their studies at <a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/stories/archive/saying-yes-to-languages-study-in-years-11-and-12">university</a>. </p>
<p>Other important influences on students’ decisions are perceived cognitive benefits. Studying languages <a href="https://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/docs/default-source/research-and-policy-pdfs/senior_secondary_languages_education_research_project_final.pdf">can lead to</a> more effective thinking skills and enhanced intercultural understanding.</p>
<p>Research shows <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-curriculum/resources/senior-secondary-languages-education-research-project-final-report">high achieving students</a> in capital cities are most likely to study a language in years 11 and 12. This is particularly the case for students whose parents were born overseas in non-English speaking countries.</p>
<p>Girls are more likely to do languages than boys — research suggests they are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020308987">just more motivated</a> to do so.</p>
<p>If you’re thinking of studying a language in years 11 and 12, here’s what you should know.</p>
<h2>Few students choose to study a language</h2>
<p>In Australia, 10% of year 12 students studied a language in 2019. This <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/year-12-subject-enrolments">compared with enrolments</a> of 77% and 71% for the most popular learning areas, English and maths. The visual and performing arts were the second-least popular at 25%. In other parts of the world, however, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201230-why-are-we-learning-languages-in-a-closed-world">language learning is on the up</a>. So if you’re looking to broaden your horizons, learning a language is a good way to go. </p>
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<p>We don’t know the exact reasons for the low enrolments. One reason could be that the language a student wants to learn <a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/stories/archive/saying-yes-to-languages-study-in-years-11-and-12">isn’t always available</a>. For example, the majority of students who study Indonesian at the primary level <a href="http://curriculum.catholic.tas.edu.au/languages/indonesian/context-statement">don’t continue when they enter secondary school</a>, often because it’s no longer available.</p>
<p>Among students who do decide to study a language in years 11 and 12, the most popular choices are <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/year-12-subject-enrolments">Chinese (22%), Japanese (20%) and French (18%)</a>. </p>
<p>Chinese is the second most widely-spoken language in Australian homes <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/media%20release3">after English</a>, which may be one reason for its popularity. But there are many factors that influence the popularity of a language, such as students of French <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/languages/french/context-statement/">being interested</a> in French culture. </p>
<h2>What can you do with languages?</h2>
<p>If you’re planning on going to university, learning a language will give you a leg up in the applications. Some Australian universities actually offer bonus <a href="https://ulpa.edu.au/why-study-languages/">ATAR points to students studying a language</a>. For instance, ANU will <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/study/apply/national-access-scheme">bump your score up by five points</a> if you take a language.</p>
<p>There are many <a href="https://ulpa.edu.au/why-study-languages/#what-sort-of-career-opportunities-are-there-for-language-students?">career pathways available</a> to language graduates. Teaching, interpretation, translation and diplomacy are some of them.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-languages-early-is-key-to-making-australia-more-multilingual-99085">Learning languages early is key to making Australia more multilingual</a>
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<p>A quick search on <a href="https://www.seek.com.au/language-jobs">Seek</a> throws up more than 4,000 jobs requiring language expertise including for lawyers, technical support engineers, sales representatives and market data analysts. Other options include finance, media, public relations, tourism, consulting, marketing, charity work, international business, foreign affairs or government work. <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi9vOexpN_xAhXR63MBHUL7BRsQFjADegQIERAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FKevin_Rudd&usg=AOvVaw0TcN3MvjqBQgu6kvAJ1TBX">Kevin Rudd’s</a> knowledge of Mandarin gave him an edge as foreign affairs minister. </p>
<p>Many industries will welcome language graduates because they bring intercultural skills, which are crucial in our globally connected world. Plus, a second language can allow you to travel the world while developing your career. </p>
<h2>What will you learn in the senior years?</h2>
<p>What you will learn depends on which school you go to, what state you live in and which language you choose. </p>
<p>In most senior courses, you’ll not only learn the language but also its associated culture. For instance, in Victoria the <a href="https://www.vsl.vic.edu.au/Resource/Staff/Teachers/VCE/Manuals/VCE%20CCAFL%20Language%20teacher%20manual%202021.pdf">senior language curriculum</a> is organised into three broad themes: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the individual, which looks at cultural topics such as relationships, educational aspirations, and leisure and sports</p></li>
<li><p>the (language)-speaking communities, where you explore aspects of the history and the culture, arts and entertainment, lifestyles and ways of life</p></li>
<li><p>the changing world, where you engage with social issues, youth issues, environmental concerns and work. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Across these themes you will gain historical insight into the language and its speakers. You will likely explore the art, literature and music that have grown out of these language communities, consider social issues, such as the role of women, and engage with issues such as the culture’s value systems on relationships.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Lantern hanging at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414071/original/file-20210802-17-1b25a42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Through learning your chosen language, you will also learn about the history and culture of its communities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lanterns-fushimi-inari-taisha-shrine-kyoto-403094848">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of this learning happens through the actual language, so you’re growing your knowledge and understanding of culture, society and history, while developing your language skills.</p>
<p>How fluent you become by the end of year 12 depends on many factors, including how many years you’ve been studying the language and how much effort you put in. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-kid-studying-a-second-language-at-school-how-much-they-learn-will-depend-on-where-you-live-155219">Is your kid studying a second language at school? How much they learn will depend on where you live</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If you’ve been learning a language all the way through high school, <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/handbooks/archive/2017/arts/subject_areas/french_studies.shtml.html">by the end of year 12</a>, you could aim for level B1 in an international certificate known as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (<a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale">CEFR</a>). This means you can deal with most situations you encounter while travelling, you can talk about your experiences and ambitions and explain your opinions, and you can understand the main points on things you regularly come across at work, school or elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Is it better to take a language you’ve already been learning?</h2>
<p>If you take the same language in the senior years as you have all through school, you will obviously benefit from already knowing a lot of the language as well as its grammatical structure.</p>
<p>But you could also take the opportunity to learn a different language, which will be easier to grasp now that you’ve already studied one. </p>
<p>Language learning involves developing knowledge about how language works. For instance, if you learn French throughout high school, you will develop a detailed and technical knowledge of the grammar of both English and French. </p>
<p>You could transfer your knowledge of how the French grammatical system works to another language.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="View of Eiffel Tower from the bottom, looking up" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414072/original/file-20210802-61985-im6uj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Knowing the grammatical structure of one language will make it easier for you to grasp the basics of another language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/famous-eiffel-tower-paris-france-112383452">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What do the exams look like?</h2>
<p>The structure of senior language exams differs slightly depending on the state you are in. But generally the exam will require students to read and respond to both written and oral texts. </p>
<p>The written exam may include reading a passage in the language and answering questions to demonstrate comprehension of the text’s ideas or arguments. There will also be questions that involve composing texts in the language, such as an email, a description of an event such as a holiday or a letter to a friend.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-languages-should-children-be-learning-to-get-ahead-74305">What languages should children be learning to get ahead?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The oral texts are often pre-recorded and played to students several times. After listening to the oral texts, students are often asked to answer questions (in English or the target language). The oral exam may also include a conversation with the examiners and/or a discussion with the examiners on a prepared topic.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1417399025930698752"}"></div></p>
<p><em>Read the other articles in our series on choosing senior subjects, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Learning a language has many benefits. It improves your thinking abilities and enhances your understanding of the world. Knowing another language can give you a leg up in university applications too.Mairin Hennebry-Leung, Lecturer in Languages and TESOL, University of TasmaniaAndy Bown, Lecturer in Languages, University of TasmaniaMegan Short, Program Director, Postgraduate Coursework Lecturer, Language & Literacy, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1460492020-11-04T20:33:47Z2020-11-04T20:33:47ZChina’s push for Mandarin education in Inner Mongolia is a tool for political repression<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367336/original/file-20201103-15-1e115vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Changing the school instruction language to Mandarin will impact Mongolian children, their families and their communities. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In early September, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/04/china-mongolian-mother-tongue-classes-curtailed">Human Rights Watch reported widespread protests over the expansion of Mandarin Chinese teaching in Inner Mongolia’s schools</a>. This new bilingual education policy threatens the Mongolian language and represents a broader policy of active assimilation that threatens the maintenance of linguistic diversity in China, more generally.</p>
<p>Inner Mongolia is an autonomous province in the People’s Republic of China. With its integration into mainland China in the early 20th century, the province’s Han Chinese population expanded, while <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvbtzm7t">its Mongolian population dwindled</a>. Today, ethnic Mongolians form the largest minority in Inner Mongolia.</p>
<p>China’s constitution <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52526-0_8">promotes the languages of officially recognized minority communities</a>, including Mongolians, in education. Since its founding, the People’s Republic of China has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02320-5_34-1">generally supported a two-track education system</a>: one for minority students who live in autonomous regions and counties based on their recognized, written native language, and one for the majority Han Chinese students, based on the nation’s official standard language, Mandarin. </p>
<p>My own research <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED601649">with children and families from greater China investigates the widespread yet deeply personal effects of assimilationist language policies</a>. </p>
<h2>Changing educational policies</h2>
<p>This summer, the Inner Mongolian Education department announced changes to the province’s primary school curriculum. Currently, Inner Mongolia’s schools use Mongolian as the language of instruction for all subjects other than Chinese and foreign languages. The new policy will introduce Mandarin textbooks for three subjects: language and literature, morality and law (politics), and history. </p>
<p>This will significantly reduce the number of hours of Mongolian instruction each day. The new policy effectively shifts the meaning of bilingual education from Mongolian schooling that teaches Mandarin Chinese as a subject to Mandarin schooling that teaches Mongolian as a subject. </p>
<p>In the short term, local Mongolian teachers will have to adapt to using Mandarin, and face heightened job insecurity. In the long term, the change will transform students’ educational trajectories, <a href="https://madeinchinajournal.com/2020/08/30/bilingual-education-in-inner-mongolia-an-explainer/">with university-level majors and subjects that are now taught in Mongolian becoming obsolete</a>. </p>
<p>In response, communities in Inner Mongolia have engaged in active protests. Alongside demonstrations in the streets, parents are refusing to send children to school, and <a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/mongolia-language-08282020105851.html">children are running away from their classrooms</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WLSLsX-lotM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Al Jazeera reports on Mongolian students’ responses to the educational changes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center links protests over the new policy to <a href="https://www.smhric.org/news_681.htm">at least nine suicides and thousands of arrests</a>. On Aug. 23, it reported the shutdown of <a href="http://www.smhric.org/news_672.htm">Bainnu, China’s only Mongolian-language social media site</a>, as a way of curtailing this political activism. </p>
<h2>Minority rights</h2>
<p>The news from Inner Mongolia is part of an ongoing struggle for language recognition and rights by minority communities in China. China is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X1600072X">home to 55 officially recognized minority ethnic groups and an estimated 297 languages</a>. Extensive state support for the development of <em>any</em> minority language education is relatively rare. Indigenous communities in North America, for example, are today tasked with actively revitalizing their languages after the devastations of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/9789462092181_003/">residential schooling</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500020182/">English-only curricula</a>. </p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, China has <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203804070">radically expanded the use of standard Mandarin in schools</a>. The news from Inner Mongolia seems to emanate from China’s so-called “Second Generation Ethnic Policy” that promotes national unity through cultural and linguistic assimilation. Scholars have noted that the endpoint of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/679274">Second Generation Ethnic Policy</a> has already been borne out <a href="https://jamestown.org/program/planting-the-seed-ethnic-policy-in-xi-jinpings-new-era-of-cultural-nationalism/">among Tibetans and Uighurs</a>. Any overt display of social and cultural otherness — including linguistic diversity — is often read as a threat to national unity. </p>
<h2>Colonialism and linguistic alientation</h2>
<p>Despite anxieties over the loss of the Tibetan language, Tibetan families in China often choose to send their children to Mandarin rather than Tibetan schools, to ensure their socio-economic mobility. </p>
<p>Multilingual Tibetan children often self-identify as Mandarin speakers when they begin attending Mandarin schools and form peer relationships outside of the home. This shift in linguistic identification can cause ruptures in family relationships, with young children actively avoiding Tibetan language interactions with their parents and grandparents.</p>
<p>In 1986, Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wrote of the consequences of his own colonial English education: “<a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/decolonising-the-mind.html">The colonial child was made to see the world and where he stands in it as seen and defined by or reflected in the culture of the language of imposition</a>.” </p>
<p>When children lack access to mother-tongue education, they lose the opportunity to create a vision of their selves through their community’s shared worldview. More than 30 years later, children continue to be faced with this same paradox: success in school means alienation from their native languages, families and communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Ward receives funding from the University of British Columbia, SSHRC, and the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>In Inner Mongolia, China’s new bilingual education policy comes at the expense of Mongolian language and culture.Shannon Ward, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1321372020-07-27T20:03:22Z2020-07-27T20:03:22ZRacist stereotyping of Asians as good at math masks inequities and harms students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348406/original/file-20200720-63094-1gyfffl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=387%2C27%2C3170%2C3053&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The myth of Asians being good at math both encourages a “blame-the-victim” approach to math failure and imposes significant psycho-social pressure on high-achieving students. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Chuttersnap/Unsplash) </span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some people stereotype Asian students as the “model minority” in math achievement: they <a href="https://theconversation.com/asians-are-good-at-math-why-dressing-up-racism-as-a-compliment-just-doesnt-add-up-128731">generalize attributes of a so-called “minority” (racialized) community in a way that just perpetuates racism disguised as a compliment</a>. </p>
<p>It is clear, however, that not all students identified as Asian are good at math. The word <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315658438/chapters/10.4324/9781315658438-15">“Asian” is a category used to represent human beings who are, in fact, diverse and their differences are lost by their inclusion in the term</a>. “Asian” includes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320500490630">50 or so ethnic groups</a> in a huge diversity of linguistic, socio-economic, political and cultural settings. Making judgments based on categories often leads to faulty or erroneous implications. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Model_Minority_Myth_Revisited.html?id=G2jHy9gv3M0C&redir_esc=y">Both scholars</a> and cultural commentators have highlighted the problem that the “model minority” label is sometimes used politically to divide those who are held up as so-called “model” groups and those who are not. Reporter Kat Chow notes that some white people have talked about <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/04/19/524571669/model-minority-myth-again-used-as-a-racial-wedge-between-asians-and-blacks">Asians in North America in ways that positions Asians’ so-called “success” as a “racial wedge</a>” that separates Asians from Black people or other racialized groups. Such framing distracts from necessary <a href="https://cjc-rcc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ajer/article/view/55221">conversations about racism and structural inequalities</a>. </p>
<p>We are involved in a study launched in 2018, “Behind the Model Minority Mask,” that seeks <a href="https://languagesciences.ubc.ca/news-events/announcement-research-news-story/jun-12-2019-looking-behind-model-minority-mask-help">to understand divergent literacy and academic trajectories of Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking children in Canada</a>. We wanted to explore how early factors such as home and classroom environments and larger cultural myths surrounding “Asian academic achievement” may be affecting children’s academic results.</p>
<p>Our research has found that holding up a “model minority” stereotype leads to destructive emotional stress for students. The “model minority” myth both encourages blaming students for failure, obscures the socio-economic factors that influence student academic achievement and also imposes significant psychosocial pressure on high-achieving students. </p>
<h2>Breaking down the meaning of ‘ESL’</h2>
<p>Our research into Asian students in Vancouver schools also revealed that there are also problems with the generalized use of terms such as “English as a Second Language” (ESL) learners and “English Language Learners” (ELL).</p>
<p>For example, we learned through a series of studies of about <a href="https://www.routledge.com/English-Only-Instruction-and-Immigrant-Students-in-Secondary-Schools-A/Gunderson/p/book/9780805825145">25,000 immigrant students</a> aged six to 19 who were categorized as “ESL” that a small number were in fact non-ESL. They were raised in families where they learned another language in addition to English from birth.</p>
<p>Of the students who did learn English after another language, there was a wide range of English-language skills, from those who spoke only a little bit of English to those who were fluently bilingual. The group included immigrants and refugees and those who were from low to high socio-economic backgrounds, and included speakers of 150 first languages and dialects. </p>
<p>The “ESL” or “ELL” labels, like the “Asian” label, however, are sometimes also used in ways that can misrepresent achievement, influence or realities of individuals. Some right-wing media commentators use <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/life/trouble+with+schools/10203596/story.html">the “ESL” label, for example, to argue that ESL students are responsible for a “strain on the system,” and “lowering” education</a>. </p>
<p>Such reprehensible commentary is facilitated by studies or news reports that <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=AuuXY3tbLMoC&dq=August+Shanahan+%22Report+of+the+National+Literacy+Panel%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjzgZyC8NnqAhUtJTQIHaHJBrQQ6AEwAXoECAIQAg">rely on generalized categories</a> and pay <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-teaching/article/emergent-bilingual-students-in-secondary-school-along-the-academic-language-and-literacy-continuum/A1550CE4E703D1B7FA693EF2C61DD9B7">insufficient attention to variables</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of teens with school books and bags walk outside" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348413/original/file-20200720-63094-w2ycob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348413/original/file-20200720-63094-w2ycob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348413/original/file-20200720-63094-w2ycob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348413/original/file-20200720-63094-w2ycob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348413/original/file-20200720-63094-w2ycob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348413/original/file-20200720-63094-w2ycob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348413/original/file-20200720-63094-w2ycob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Holding up a ‘model minority’ stereotype leads to destructive emotional stress for students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Roots of achievement patterns</h2>
<p>In part of our study, Lee Gunderson recorded science, math, English and social studies academic achievement of 5,000 randomly selected students from grades 8 to 12 in 18 Vancouver secondary schools including Asian students. ESL students scored significantly higher than native English speakers in all academic areas except English and social studies in Grade 12. Mandarin speakers’ academic achievement was also significantly higher than that of Cantonese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese and other language groups. </p>
<p>While there were high achievers among this diverse group of Asians, many Asian students (even among the Chinese subgroups) also reported struggling academically and socio-emotionally in school. </p>
<p>Socio-economic status <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/English_Only_Instruction_And_Immigrant_S.html?id=dm4UkTp8BNcC&redir_esc=y">was also found to be an important variable: Mandarin-speaking immigrants were from more affluent families than the other ethno-linguistic groups</a>. Mandarin-speaking families employed more tutors to bolster their children’s academic work than other groups. Indeed, among this group, some Mandarin-speaking university students worked as academic tutors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mother is helping her teenage son do homework" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348409/original/file-20200720-18366-1cr72k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348409/original/file-20200720-18366-1cr72k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348409/original/file-20200720-18366-1cr72k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348409/original/file-20200720-18366-1cr72k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348409/original/file-20200720-18366-1cr72k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348409/original/file-20200720-18366-1cr72k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348409/original/file-20200720-18366-1cr72k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mandarin-speaking families were more affluent and employed more tutors to bolster academic achievement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The sample of native-English speaking students included a wide-range of families from a range of socio-economic backgrounds. By contrast, the Mandarin sample, as a result of immigration patterns, included more high economic status families than other groups. </p>
<p>When high economic status native English speakers were selected they scored significantly higher in all academic areas than Mandarin speakers at all grades. Socio-economic status is related to school success. </p>
<h2>Early beginnings</h2>
<p>With this same set of students, initial assessment results in the early grades revealed no significant differences in achievement between young Cantonese and Mandarin speakers. However, by Grade 12 there were differences with Mandarin speakers having significantly <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286868016_High_School_May_Not_Be_Enough_An_Investigation_of_Asian_Students'_Eligibility_for_Post-secondary_Education">higher</a> grades. </p>
<p>Mandarin-speaking girls were four times more like to be eligible for university than <a href="https://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/article/view/1114">Cantonese-speaking boys</a>. About two-thirds of the Cantonese boys did not have grades sufficient for admission to university. Cantonese boys were at-risk students. The other Asian groups scored lower than Mandarin speakers in all academic areas.</p>
<h2>Understanding differences</h2>
<p>The two largest groups of Asian immigrants, the Cantonese and Mandarin speakers, were from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. The language of instruction in their communities was not English, so we expected these children’s English skills would be nascent when they immigrated to Canada.</p>
<p>As researchers, we did not expect that these students’ achievement would differ at the end of their public school careers. We also didn’t expect to see gender differences in academic achievement when this difference wasn’t present when these children first entered Canada. Nor did we expect to see differences among the Cantonese and Mandarin speakers. </p>
<p>As our research continues, we predict the findings will provide critical knowledge that educators need to improve the learning of Cantonese-speaking boys or others who we find to be at risk academically or socio-emotionally in Canadian schools. </p>
<p>We also hope we will identify characteristics of supportive ESL environments and inform early intervention through effective ESL program design and teacher professional development. Our hope is to provide information that informs parents about how to effectively support their children in school and at home in their early years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132137/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Gunderson receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guofang Li receives funding from SSHRC Insight Grants, Canada.</span></em></p>A Vancouver study found Mandarin-speaking girls were more likely to be eligible for university than Cantonese-speaking boys. High-achieving students were from wealthier families who had tutors.Lee Gunderson, Professor, Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British ColumbiaGuofang Li, Professor + Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Transnational/Global Perspectives of Language and Literacy Education of Children and Youth, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1196472019-07-07T20:08:10Z2019-07-07T20:08:10ZChina crisis? Hardly – it doesn’t matter most Aussie kids don’t speak fluent Mandarin<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282784/original/file-20190705-51262-11cmld1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The number of students studying Mandarin in Australian schools nearly doubled between 2008 and 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just before the May federal election, then shadow treasurer Chris Bowen gave a speech in which he lamented the low levels of Year 12 students studying Mandarin in Australia. The speech was at a <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/labor-to-talk-up-asian-engagement-plans-in-darwin-20190502-p51ji5">launch for Labor’s plan</a> to deepen Australia’s engagement with Asia.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media_release_tanya_plibersek_labor_s_futureasia_plan_to_deepen_asian_engagement_friday_3_may_2019">launch’s media release</a>, Labor’s strategy would include “improving Asian literacy and cultural understanding through school curriculums”.</p>
<p>Bowen mentioned that only about 130 Australians of non-Chinese heritage can speak Chinese to a level good enough to do business with China. In recent weeks, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/fact-checka-are-there-only-130-people-who-can-speak-mandarin/11235484">experts confirmed</a> this number may be correct, although an educated guess. </p>
<p>But whatever the exact number, 100 or 130 or 200, an expert <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/fact-checka-are-there-only-130-people-who-can-speak-mandarin/11235484">told RMIT ABC Fact Check</a> “it’s still absolutely peanuts”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1124121946910744578"}"></div></p>
<p>For decades, Australian schools have focused on <a href="https://www1.curriculum.edu.au/nalsas/about.htm">teaching Asian languages</a> to strengthen our opportunities in Asia. One of the four target languages has been Standard Chinese, or Mandarin, the <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-china.html">official language</a> of mainland China. </p>
<p>If only 130 people of non-Chinese heritage can speak it after all these years, has something gone catastrophically wrong?</p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>There are many more than 130 people in Australia who can speak Mandarin fluently. According to the latest <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/Media%20Release3">census data</a>, almost 600,000 people in Australia speak Mandarin at home, which indicates a very high level of fluency.</p>
<p>Given more than 500,000 Australians were <a href="https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/6101_036">born in China</a>, there is a good chance most Mandarin-speaking Australians would be, to use Bowen’s term, of “Chinese heritage”. But it’s unclear why this is concerning.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-are-chinese-migrants-choosing-to-settle-in-australia-look-to-the-suburbs-103920">Where are Chinese migrants choosing to settle in Australia? Look to the suburbs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>From a purely academic perspective, these data suggest Australia is well placed to recruit Mandarin-speaking leaders in business, international relations, diplomacy and so forth, to strengthen our engagement with Asia. </p>
<p>Clearly, there is no critical shortage of fluent Mandarin speakers in Australia. There may be a shortage of Mandarin-speaking Australians entering into leadership positions, but that is an entirely different discussion.</p>
<h2>Mandarin learning in schools</h2>
<p>There is no definitive source of data for the number of children learning languages in Australian schools. One <a href="https://www.australiachinarelations.org/sites/default/files/20032%20ACRI%20Jane%20Orton%20-%20Chinese%20Language%20Capacity_web_0.pdf">source</a> indicates that in 2015, more than 170,000 students were learning Mandarin in Australian schools – almost twice as many as were learning it in 2008. </p>
<p>However, only about 4,000 of those students were in Year 12, and of those only an estimated 400 were of non-Chinese heritage. So while the total number of students has risen, the number of non-Chinese heritage students continuing to study Mandarin through to Year 12 has remained low.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-australias-mandarin-speakers-get-their-news-106917">How Australia’s Mandarin speakers get their news</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These figures are similar to those for Japanese, which is the most popular language taught in Australian schools. In 2015 there were estimated to be <a href="https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/japanese/survey/result/dl/survey_2015/Report_summarytables_e.pdf">just over 210,000</a> students studying Japanese at school in Australia. Following a similar pattern to Mandarin, only 572 of those students were in the upper years of secondary school.</p>
<h2>What does success mean?</h2>
<p>Not all language students start at the same proficiency level. The <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/languages/chinese/">Australian Curriculum</a> has five different streams for students of Mandarin to accommodate a range of different starting levels of proficiency. </p>
<p>In theory, this means Chinese heritage students who already speak Mandarin very well can study a much higher level of Mandarin than non-Chinese heritage students. However, many students with very good starting proficiency in Mandarin end up in classes designed for students with lower starting levels of proficiency. </p>
<p>These differences in starting levels of proficiency mean it is difficult to determine whether Mandarin language programs have been successful. An excellent written paper by a non-native speaker of Mandarin may be a very poor result for a student who is a native speaker of Mandarin. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-languages-should-children-be-learning-to-get-ahead-74305">What languages should children be learning to get ahead?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.australiachinarelations.org/sites/default/files/20032%20ACRI%20Jane%20Orton%20-%20Chinese%20Language%20Capacity_web_0.pdf">In one study</a>, Year 12 students who spoke Mandarin at home achieved an average score of 77 on a proficiency test that had a maximum possible score of 120. The average for students who did not speak Mandarin at home was 16.</p>
<p>We need to think carefully about what we mean by success in language learning. If speaking as a native speaker would, which is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/fact-checka-are-there-only-130-people-who-can-speak-mandarin/11235484">what might be required</a> for someone to be able to conduct business in China, is the measure of success, all language classes will perform poorly. A <a href="https://www.australiachinarelations.org/content/chinese-language-competency-australia">school student in China</a> will learn about 6,000 written characters by the time they graduate. By comparison, a Year 12 student in Australia will graduate with a knowledge of only about 500 characters.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282789/original/file-20190705-51288-1bgldal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By the time a school student in China graduates, they will have learnt about 6,000 written characters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even languages that don’t have large numbers of characters are almost impossible to master in the small amount of time allocated to language classes in Australian schools.</p>
<p>In the same way, if winning an Olympic gold medal were the measure of success of sports classes, then they also have been a monumental failure. There have only been <a href="http://olympics.com.au/olympian-search/aus-olympic-champions">267 Australian gold medallists</a> in all Summer and Winter Games since 1896. </p>
<p>The same could be said for any other subject in which achieving such rare levels of excellence is considered to be the only measure of success. </p>
<h2>Why else would you study Mandarin?</h2>
<p>Evidence suggests there are multiple benefits from learning a second language beyond achieving native-like mastery of the language itself. These include improvements in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09571736.2016.1196384">cognitive flexibility</a>, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/foreign-language-improve-decisions/">decision-making</a>, and <a href="http://www.iltlp.unisa.edu.au/doclibpapers/iltlp_paper1.pdf">intercultural competency</a>. </p>
<p>None of these benefits requires the learner to be able to speak, read or write that second language as well as a native speaker. </p>
<p>Some of the questions we should be asking are:</p>
<ul>
<li>are our children making progress in learning the language? </li>
<li>are they engaged with the lessons and the materials? </li>
<li>are they demonstrating interest in other cultures and ideas? </li>
<li>are they exploring new ways of seeing the world and solving problems? </li>
<li>are they reaching out to others in the community who have different language and cultural backgrounds? </li>
</ul>
<p>The first two of these are regularly measured, or at least noted, by classroom teachers. But the others are often overlooked. It is difficult to know how successful our programs have been without measuring these things too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Warren Midgley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even if only 130 Australians of non-Chinese heritage can speak Mandarin fluently, there are many more if you count those of Chinese heritage. And a level of fluency is not the only measure of success.Warren Midgley, Honorary Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/849312017-09-30T07:09:31Z2017-09-30T07:09:31ZWhy translators and interpreters deserve a special day of recognition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188206/original/file-20170929-13542-1gp4j36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Leaders use translators during the inauguration of President Mr João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço of Angola.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The United Nations marks <a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/translationday/index.shtml">International Translation Day</a> every year to honour the work of language professionals. Politics and society editor Thabo Leshilo spoke to Dr Kim Wallmach about the day’s significance.</em></p>
<p><strong>What’s the idea behind celebrating the day and its history?</strong></p>
<p>September 30 has been marked as International Translation Day since 1991. It was chosen because it’s the feast day of the great <a href="http://www.fit-ift.org/international-translation-day/">Bible translator St Jerome</a>, the patron saint of translators.</p>
<p>There is even greater cause for celebration this year. In May, the United Nations unanimously <a href="http://undocs.org/en/A/RES/71/288">adopted a resolution</a> recognising the role of professional translation in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development. The theme this year is <a href="http://www.fit-ift.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ITD-Poster_2017Press_Release_EN_FINAL.pdf">“translation and diversity”</a>. </p>
<p><strong>How does translation differ from interpretation?</strong></p>
<p>Translation involves the transfer of meaning from one language to another in the written mode, whereas interpreting is either spoken or signed. Interpreting can be performed in any one of three modes: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>in the short consecutive mode, the speaker delivers a short statement, which the interpreter then interprets afterwards. </p></li>
<li><p>In the long consecutive mode, the speaker delivers a message for up to 15 minutes while the interpreter takes notes. Thereafter, the interpreter delivers the message in another language. </p></li>
<li><p>The third, and most complex mode is simultaneous interpreting, which is used in conference, parliamentary or legislature interpreting contexts.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>It is important to note here that neither translation nor interpreting involve the transfer of words, as languages are structured differently. Rather, they transfer meaning, which must be done as accurately as possible. This, while taking into account cultural and linguistic dissimilarities.</p>
<p>This explains why knowledge of two or more languages isn’t enough. A translator or interpreter must also know the subject matter and be trained in the necessary techniques.</p>
<p><strong>What are the daily, practical applications of translation?</strong></p>
<p>Work opportunities in translation in the South African languages, range from legal, technical and educational contexts, public health information and annual reports to the localisation of websites and mobile phone technology. Translation in the major European languages, Swahili, Arabic and Mandarin is also flourishing.</p>
<p>Increasingly, the fact that we live in a globalised, digital world affects the way in which interpreters and translators work. Translators use translation tools to produce more consistent translations faster and more efficiently. Interpreters can now also work remotely.</p>
<p>But, there is also a danger that the immediacy of technology, like <a href="https://translate.google.com/">Google Translate</a>, might cause us to be overconfident about the ability of technology to bridge all of our language barriers. </p>
<p>Google Translate can give us an immediate sense that we understand something about a text in another language. But research has shown research that its automated output is still <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/16073614.2012.750824?journalCode=rall20">considerably less professional</a> than that of a translation student. And, if one wishes to communicate a message effectively using plain language, there is still no replacement for a professional language service which integrates rigorous quality assurance and qualified staff.</p>
<p>The story of interpreting into local South African languages is even more amazing if one considers all that’s been achieved since democracy. As the <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007722">Nuremberg Trials</a> after World War II marked the first use of simultaneous interpreting equipment, South Africa’s <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> could not have operated without the work of the first simultaneous interpreters ever to interpret into – and from – local languages. </p>
<p>These interpreters produced more than 28 000 hours or 3 551 days of simultaneous interpretation from April 1996 to October 1998. Of course, the courts, national government departments, parliament, provincial legislatures and local municipalities all cater for South African languages as well as for South African Sign Language.</p>
<p><strong>How well developed is translation in South Africa and what does future look like?</strong></p>
<p>Historically, translation has always played a pivotal role in South Africa – from the first Bible translations which codified the African languages and Afrikaans to the massive state-inspired increase in translation activity that permitted Afrikaans to take its place alongside English as an official language from <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/afrikaans-becomes-official-language-union-south-africa">1925 onwards</a>. </p>
<p>Thereafter, all South Africa’s languages underwent a so-called “Shakespearean” phase – with the translation of canonical works going a long way towards establishing the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02564719608530150?journalCode=rjls20">literary status</a> of these languages. </p>
<p>Raising the status of the African languages to that of official languages in South Africa post-1994 led to an explosion of translation and interpreting work in the local and foreign languages. Opportunities for training and professional development also increased. Also, translation and interpreting play a key role in nation-building - acknowledging diversity while <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0907676X.2014.948893">promoting understanding</a>.</p>
<p>I have a rosier view of multilingualism in South Africa than language planners, who rightly point to the failure of legislation such as the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/35742_gon801_0.pdf">Use of Official Languages Act</a> to properly promote all the country’s languages.</p>
<p>The next major challenge is to bridge the digital divide. Companies competing globally have realised that English is not the catch-all language in the digital world. They need a multilingual digital communication strategy to reach multiple and diverse audiences. South Africa still has to realise this.</p>
<p>While banks have led the way in localising ATMs and ensuring that they employ multilingual frontline staff, other professions still need to make language an important part of the way in which they engage with their customers and with society.</p>
<p>But a lot of progress has been made in the digital sphere. Google, Microsoft Office and search engines like Firefox and Internet explorer are available in languages besides English. Cellphones can be accessed in these languages too. Keyboards, touch screen interfaces, spell-checkers and voice language inputs that work with local languages have also been designed and implemented in the past decade or so.</p>
<p>Of course, enormous linguistic challenges remain. But, in the words of Nelson Mandela himself:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No matter what challenges lie ahead, none are as great as those we have already overcome.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84931/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Wallmach has previously received funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Raising the status of the African languages to that of official languages in South Africa post-1994 led to an explosion of translation and interpreting work in local and foreign languages.Kim Wallmach, Director:Language Centre, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/789672017-06-27T14:57:44Z2017-06-27T14:57:44ZChina tops US and UK as destination for anglophone African students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175161/original/file-20170622-11971-1w6bqoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More and more African students head to China each year to study.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Bobby Yip </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The surge in the number of African students in China is remarkable. In less than 15 years the African student body has grown 26-fold – from just under <a href="http://old.moe.gov.cn//publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77826.html">2,000</a> in 2003 to almost <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201604/t20160414_238263.html">50,000</a> in 2015. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://data.uis.unesco.org/">UNESCO Institute for Statistics</a>, the US and UK host around 40,000 African students a year. China surpassed this number in 2014, making it the second most popular destination for African students studying abroad, after France which hosts just over 95,000 students. </p>
<p>For years, these numbers have remained untranslated in the online archives of the Chinese Ministry of Education. But a <a href="https://breezegeography.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/stats-on-international-students-studying-in-china/">recent initiative</a> by Michigan State University researchers to translate them introduces the reports to a wider audience.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175324/original/file-20170623-21202-15uwna8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">China has overtaken the UK and US.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not only have these reports revealed the growth in China-Africa ties. They also make it possible to compare China’s international education trends in a global context. </p>
<h2>China’s targeted focus</h2>
<p>Chinese universities are filled with international students from around the world, including Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania. The proportion of Asian international students still dwarfs the number of Africans, who make up 13% of the student body. But this number, which is up from 2% in 2003, is growing every year, and much faster than other regions. Proportionally more African students are coming to China each year than students from anywhere else in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175325/original/file-20170623-22683-hrxogr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The proportion of African students at Chinese universities is steadily growing.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This dramatic increase in students from Africa can be explained in part by the Chinese government’s targeted focus on African human resource and education development. Starting in 2000, China’s <a href="http://www.focac.org/eng/">Forum on China-Africa Cooperation</a> summits have promised financial and political support for African education at home and abroad in China.</p>
<p>Since 2006, China has set scholarship targets to aid African students coming to China for study. For example, at the most recent 2015 summit, China pledged to provide <a href="http://www.focac.org/eng/ltda/dwjbzjjhys_1/hywj/t1327961.htm">30,000 scholarships</a> to African students by 2018. </p>
<p>Although China stopped publishing regional scholarship data in 2008, our data analysis using the 2003-2008 data to generate scholarship estimates suggests that this target is on the way to being met. China seems to be upholding the pledges made towards African education. </p>
<h2>Mutual Benefit - in education and business</h2>
<p>For the Chinese government, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/china-africa-students-scholarship-programme">providing education</a> to Africans is an extension of <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt2tt1tp">China’s soft power</a> – cultivating the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/apr/29/africa-future-leaders-china-aid-programme">next generation</a> of African scholars and elites. The experience that these students get in China can translate into a willingness to work with China and view China’s internal or external policies favourably in the future. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175191/original/file-20170622-12015-e600oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175191/original/file-20170622-12015-e600oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175191/original/file-20170622-12015-e600oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175191/original/file-20170622-12015-e600oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175191/original/file-20170622-12015-e600oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175191/original/file-20170622-12015-e600oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175191/original/file-20170622-12015-e600oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Providing education to Africans is an extension of China’s soft power on the continent REUTERS/How Hwee Young/Pool.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what do African students gain in return? <a href="http://china-africa.ssrc.org/">China-Africa scholars</a> have <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14767724.2012.750492">found</a> that students head to China for many reasons. Some simply go to pursue an education that is affordable, even without a scholarship, while others go for the chance to develop business connections or learn the language of a country presumed to be a rising power. </p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266296514_African_Students_in_China">several</a> <a href="http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/70764">surveys</a>, most students tend to be enrolled in Chinese-language courses or engineering degrees. The preference for engineering may be due to the fact that many engineering programs offered by Chinese universities for international students are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266296514_African_Students_in_China">taught in English</a>. </p>
<p>The quality of education has received mixed reviews. Some studies have shown that African students are <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/614089/summary">generally</a> <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/ifepsyc/12/2/EJC38604">satisfied</a> with their Chinese education, as long as they can overcome the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smi.978/full">language barriers</a>. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14767724.2012.750492">Others</a> found that even if students were not impressed with their education, they appreciated the <a href="http://www.sais-cari.org/data-china-africa-trade/">trade</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Chinas-Engagement-with-Africa-David-Dollar-July-2016.pdf">business</a> opportunities that a Chinese education made available to them back home. </p>
<h2>The next generation</h2>
<p>It’s difficult to know exactly which African countries are sending the most students to China. These details are not kept by the Chinese Ministry of Education. But the statistics from <a href="http://is.tsinghua.edu.cn/publish/is/9281/2014/20141223111837219723176/20141223111837219723176_.html">Tsinghua University</a> provide an insight. In the 2015-2016 academic year, the majority of the university’s 111 African students came from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Morocco, Eritrea, and Cameroon – slightly favouring East Africa. </p>
<p>African students in France <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130705203103913">overwhelmingly come from</a> francophone West Africa. If Tsinghua’s profile holds true for the larger African student body in China, it means China is an increasingly important player in the education of countries outside of West Africa. </p>
<p>Due to Chinese visa rules, most international students cannot stay in China after their education is complete. This prevents <a href="https://theconversation.com/stemming-reverse-brain-drain-what-would-make-foreign-students-stay-in-the-us-39148">brain-drain</a> and means that China is educating a generation of African students who – unlike their counterparts in France, the US or UK – are <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt2tt1tp">more likely</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266296514_African_Students_in_China">to return home</a> and bring their new education and skills with them. </p>
<p>It’s still too early to tell how these new dynamics might be shaping geopolitics on the continent.</p>
<p><em>Note: The original, untranslated Chinese Ministry of Education reports are available as follows: <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77826.html">2003</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A20/moe_850/200502/t20050206_77817.html">2004</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77808.html">2005</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77799.html">2006</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s3124/201002/82570.html">2007</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s3124/201002/82571.html">2008</a>, <a href="http://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2010-03/22/content_1562026.htm">2009</a>, 2010, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s5987/201202/131117.html">2011</a>, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201303/t20130307_148379.html">2012</a>, 2013, <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s5987/201503/184959.html">2014</a>, and <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201604/t20160414_238263.html">2015</a>. The Ministry archives were missing reports for 2010 and 2013. Student numbers for these years were calculated using the percent-growth reported in 2011 and 2014 reports, respectively.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Breeze receives funding from the National Science Foundation as part of a Graduate Research Fellowship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Newly translated Chinese Ministry of Education records shine light on China’s shifting place in the global higher education landscape.Victoria Breeze, PhD Candidate in Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State UniversityNathan Moore, Associate Professor of Geography, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/485052015-11-12T03:31:31Z2015-11-12T03:31:31ZTeaching Mandarin in schools is another slap in the face for African languages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97224/original/image-20151005-1048-14dsx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gabriel Kenny, aged five, gets to grips with Mandarin characters as part of a US school program.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Nicholson/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s said that behind every powerful language is an army and money. Consider the case of English. In South Africa, as in its other colonies, the British arrived with the Bible in one hand and the <a href="http://global.britannica.com/technology/breech-loading">breech-loader</a> in the other. Behind them was the English language, military might and money. </p>
<p>British missionaries wanted to convert Africa’s indigenous “heathens” to Christianity; to clone little English people on the continent through the medium of English. Next came the Afrikaners, descended from the Dutch. Their slaves created a “kitchen” language out of Dutch and called it Afrikaans. White Afrikaners appropriated it as their own and it became the language of apartheid. </p>
<p>One of the tipping points of white rule was the 1976 Soweto uprising – a <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising">furious, powerful response</a> to the news that Afrikaans would become a compulsory medium of instruction.</p>
<p>Now there is a new potential coloniser on South Africa’s linguistic block. From 2016, Mandarin <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-12-like-it-or-not-sa-schools-set-to-teach-mandarin">will be taught</a> in the country’s schools as a Second Additional Language. This new government policy will see African languages bumped even further down the educational pecking order.</p>
<h2>Policy prevarication</h2>
<p>In 2014 South Africa’s Department of Basic Education <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Newsroom/OpinionPieces/tabid/609/ctl/Details/mid/1909/ItemID/3136/Default.aspx">unveiled</a> a <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=FBjA%2FBWyCTw%3D&tabid=93&mid=2602">policy</a> designed to prioritise and improve the way African languages like Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho and Tswana are taught. English and Afrikaans are favoured as first languages by most schools, even those whose pupils do not speak either as their mother tongues.</p>
<p>The policy proposed teaching an African language to all children from Grade 1 at the level of a First Additional Language. The department argued that introducing African languages to all pupils would create a more cohesive society and improve communication between all South Africans. </p>
<p>If properly implemented, the policy encourages a situation where South African scholars could possibly learn in languages that they understand best. That creates a more literate society – one where students actually understand what they are learning rather than simply rote learning content through the medium of English.</p>
<p>But almost as soon as the government introduced this policy, it seemed to backtrack. At the beginning of 2015 the policy’s introduction was <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/compulsory-indigenous-language-plan-delayed-1.1806489#.VkBmo7crLIU">delayed by a year</a>.</p>
<p>It has also not been universally welcomed. Some have <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/extra-daily-hour-of-school-1.1565865#.VhPVBPmqqko">complained</a> that adding an extra 30 minutes to the schoolday to fit in an African language will simply be too tiring for children. Local languages will be downgraded once again to Second Additional Language status – on a par with Mandarin, which is an almost entirely foreign language in South Africa. </p>
<h2>A success story</h2>
<p>Mandarin’s addition to the school curriculum appears to be more of a political ploy than a sound educational policy. South African President Jacob Zuma enjoys a <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-12-05-zuma-china-will-free-africa-from-colonial-shackles">close relationship</a> with China’s government, which has led some critics to call the Asian powerhouse a <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-01-05-chinas-second-continent-a-guide-to-the-new-colonisation-of-africa/#.VhI8Z_mqqko">new colonial power</a>. The news of Mandarin’s addition to the school curriculum has <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-08-teaching-mandarin-at-school-will-colonise-sa-anew-sadtu">enraged</a> South Africa’s largest teacher union.</p>
<p>It would be far better to concentrate on teaching content subjects in African languages properly alongside the expert teaching of English as a subject. English should also be used jointly with African languages in the classroom to aid cognition and improve learners’ ability to transfer concepts from their own languages into English.</p>
<p>This is not just wishful thinking. A project in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province proves how valuable African languages are to pupils’ learning. The Cofimvaba Project involves <a href="https://imfundo.wordpress.com/tag/xhosa-teaching/">70 rural schools</a> which have taught maths and science in isiXhosa up to Grade 6 for the past four years. This is <a href="http://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/2">by far</a> the most dominant language in the province. English is taught as a subject and is also used bilingually alongside isiXhosa to teach maths and science.</p>
<p>When the project started, learners were scoring on average around 20% in the Department of Basic Education’s <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/AnnualNationalAssessment/tabid/424/Default.aspx">Annual National Assessments</a>. This average has improved to around 65%.</p>
<p>This year the Grade 7s were supposed to adopt English as a language of learning and teaching. Their parents refused. They chose English as a subject and an adjunct to isiXhosa – because they had seen their children grow and flourish after watching them fail for years. The schools’ governing bodies have seen for themselves that their children can learn content subjects in their home languages while acquiring good English. </p>
<p>English literacy levels in these schools is at 60%, way above the average of other rural schools where English is the medium of instruction. These percentage figures speak for themselves. </p>
<p>It is the only project of its kind in South Africa and has been well supported by the provincial government. It should serve as a model for the rest of the country.</p>
<h2>Mandarin is not a priority</h2>
<p>So are we suggesting that Mandarin has no place in South Africa’s education system? Not at all. In fact, it’s already here – at our universities. </p>
<p>Confucius Institutes at, for instance, <a href="http://www.ru.ac.za/confuciusinstitute/">Rhodes</a> and the <a href="http://www.confucius.uct.ac.za/">University of Cape Town</a>, are well versed in teaching Mandarin and Chinese characters. After three years of immersion at university many students have come out relatively fluent and are now working in China. </p>
<p>But do we need to teach Mandarin or Chinese from Grade R? Other countries, like Australia, have discovered that teaching Chinese as an additional language subject at school just doesn’t work. Australian school leavers <a href="http://www.academia.edu/2527700/We_are_not_teaching_Chinese_kids_in_Chinese_Context_we_are_teaching_Australian_kids_in_Australian_Schools">emerge after 13 years</a> with the fluency of 500 Chinese characters or less. </p>
<p>There are many varieties of spoken Chinese but only one set of written characters for written language which everyone must learn. The acquisition of the 500 characters after 13 years is the equivalent of Grade 1 competency. Is this worth the effort?</p>
<p>No, it’s not.</p>
<p>South Africa must fix its existing system first. Once it has achieved its educational aims through appropriate research-based and empirically sound language-in-education policy implementation, then it can consider adding other world languages to its educational repertoire. For now, let Mandarin be taught at South Africa’s universities as is presently the case.</p>
<p><em>Note: Naledi Mbude-Shale from the Eastern Cape department of basic education also contributed to this article</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Russell H. Kaschula receives funding from the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monica Hendricks receives funding from the National Research Foundation and the Rhodes Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pamela Maseko receives funding from the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bulelwa Nosilela and Kathleen Heugh do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is a new potential coloniser on South Africa’s linguistic block. From 2016, Mandarin will be taught in schools – and this will see African languages bumped even further down the pecking order.Russell H. Kaschula, Professor of African Language Studies, Rhodes UniversityBulelwa Nosilela, Subject Head, African Languages, Rhodes UniversityKathleen Heugh, Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, University of South AustraliaMonica Hendricks, Director of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa, Rhodes UniversityPamela Maseko, Senior Lecturer in African Languages, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/379932015-02-24T23:10:51Z2015-02-24T23:10:51ZIf you speak Mandarin, your brain is different<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72914/original/image-20150224-25707-s1vf42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From left to right. Mandarin employs a different part of the brain. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chinese man via XiXinXing/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We speak so effortlessly that most of us never think about it. But psychologists and neuroscientists are captivated by the human capacity to communicate with language. By the time a child can tie his or her shoes, enough words and rules have been mastered to allow the expression of an unlimited number of utterances. The uniqueness of this behaviour to the human species indicates its centrality to human psychology. </p>
<p>That this behaviour comes naturally and seemingly effortlessly in the first few years of life merely fascinates us further. Untangling the brain’s mechanisms for language has been a pillar of neuroscience since its inception. <a href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1416000112">New research</a> published in the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences about the different connections going on in the brains of Mandarin and English speakers, demonstrates just how flexible our ability to learn language really is.</p>
<h2>Real-time brain networking</h2>
<p>Before functional brain imaging was possible, two areas on the left side of the brain, called Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, had already revealed their importance for language. Victims of <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=2728096">stroke or traumatic brain injury</a> to either of these crucial areas on the left side of the brain exhibited profound disabilities for producing and understanding language. Modern <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/connectionism/">theories on connectionism</a> – the idea that knowledge is distributed across different parts of the brain and not tucked into dedicated modules like Broca’s area – have compelled researchers to take a closer look.</p>
<p>For example, language requires real-time mappings between words and their meanings. This <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v8/n5/abs/nrn2113.html">requires that</a> the sounds heard in speech – decoded in the auditory cortex – must be integrated with knowledge about what they mean – in the frontal cortex. Modern theories in neuroscience are enamoured with this type of “network” approach. Instead of pinning miracles of cognition to singular brain areas, complex processes are now viewed as distributed across different cortical areas, relying on several parts of the brain interacting dynamically.</p>
<h2>Comparing tongues</h2>
<p>By <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v388/n6640/abs/388381a0.html">six to ten months</a> children have already learned to be sensitive to the basic sounds, known as phonemes, that matter in their native language. Yet different languages differ profoundly in the sounds that are important for communication. </p>
<p>Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language in which the same basic sounds can refer to vastly different things based on the tone with which it is spoken. In a non-tonal language such as English, tone might convey emotional information about the speaker, but indicates nothing about the meaning of the word that is spoken.</p>
<p>Now a group of Chinese researchers, led by Jianqiao Ge
at Peking University, Beijing, has found that these differences between Mandarin Chinese and English change the way the brain’s networks work. </p>
<p>The researchers took advantage of the basic differences between Mandarin Chinese and English to investigate the differences between the language networks of native speakers of tonal and non-tonal languages. Thirty native Chinese speakers were matched on age, gender, and handedness (they were all right-handed) with a sample of native English speakers. All participants listened to intelligible and unintelligible speech and were asked to judge the gender of the speaker.</p>
<h2>The right side</h2>
<p>Both groups of speakers showed activation of the brain’s classic go-to areas for speech – including Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas – on the left side of the brain. But two important differences emerged. The first difference was the operation of the brain networks shared by English and Chinese speakers. English speakers showed stronger connectivity leading from Wernicke’s area to Broca’s area. This increased connectivity was attributed to English relying more heavily on phonological information, or sounds rather than tones. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72911/original/image-20150224-25698-1cnownq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two areas on the left hand side of the brain associated with language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A1605_Brocas_and_Wernickes_Areas-02.jpg">OpenStax College/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, Chinese speakers had stronger connections leading from an area of the brain called the anterior superior temporal gyrus – which <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21391767">has been identified</a> as a “semantic hub” critical in supporting language – to both Broca’s and Wernicke’s area. This increased connectivity is attributed to the enhanced mapping of sound and meaning going on in people who speak tonal languages. </p>
<p>The second difference showed activation in an area of the brain’s right hemisphere, but only among the Chinese speakers. This brain area, the right superior temporal pole, <a href="https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/neuroanatomical-markers-of-speaking-chinese%281833ab3b-3368-4893-a4fc-954347b8410f%29/export.html">has been implicated</a> in Chinese tones before but – perhaps more importantly – has until now been considered completely separate from the classic language network in the left hemisphere. </p>
<p>The findings emphasise the importance of developing a bilateral network between the two brain hemispheres to speak and understand languages, particularly for tonal languages like Mandarin Chinese.</p>
<h2>New avenues for research</h2>
<p>We can expect more such differences to emerge as future research focuses increasingly on non-English speaking participants. Much of what we think we know about human psychology is based on <a href="http://coevolution.psych.ubc.ca/pdfs/not_Weird.pdf">“WEIRD” participants</a>: western, educated university students from industrialised, rich, and developed nations. Other cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, or cross-class differences might emerge as more research develops. </p>
<p>Provocative though the results might be, they raise questions for future research. Tone matters in English, just not to the same extent as in Chinese. For example, think of how your delivery might change the meaning of the question “Where have you been?” to convey suspicion, surprise, curiosity, or jealousy. Language might be among our most important windows to human thought, but research has barely scratched the surface of this complex and curiously unique human ability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larry Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Language is traditionally associated with the left side of the brain. But Mandarin speakers are using the right side.Larry Taylor, Senior lecturer, Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/316132014-09-19T04:50:44Z2014-09-19T04:50:44ZBeyond the big three: French, German and Spanish aren’t the only languages that matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59445/original/nzyphzfd-1411045799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Je ne parle pas Chinese. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsaiek6654/5044562368/sizes/l">-AroFarMeR-</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The shortage of foreign language skills in the UK is now a permanent preoccupation, with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/10/language-skills-deficit-costs-uk-economy">some sources</a> placing the estimated cost of the deficit as high as £48 billion a year. Britons are now seen as a <a href="http://voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_07_23/VoR-Debate-Is-Britain-a-nation-of-monoglots-4123/">“nation of monoglots”</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/john-worne/brits-abroad_b_3744059.html">ridiculed when attempting to communicate</a> in international contexts. </p>
<p>But part of the problem is that although teenagers recognise the need to learn languages, few are doing so – and even fewer are studying non-traditional languages such as Mandarin, Arabic, Russian and Turkish, which are only available in a handful of schools. </p>
<h2>Bad reputation</h2>
<p>The UK’s poor reputation for languages is not surprising. A 2012 <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf">European survey</a> found that only 39% of UK respondents felt able to hold a basic conversation in a language other than English. For those who could, this was most likely to be French (19%) or German (6%).</p>
<p>In England, less than half of 16-year-olds now take a <a href="http://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/britishcouncil.uk2/files/language-trends-survey-2014.pdf">language at GCSE</a> and only 8% continue to A Level. <a href="http://www.ucml.ac.uk/news/204">University entries for languages</a> continue to drop, as does <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/oct/08/how-many-universities-dropped-language">the number of university language courses</a> on offer.</p>
<h2>Promising policies</h2>
<p>This may in time be tempered by the move to make languages compulsory for seven to 11-year-olds at Key Stage 2 from this September, plus £1.8m of funding offered by the government for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/18-million-training-boost-for-language-teaching">school-centred training and support</a>. </p>
<p>The introduction of the English Baccalaureate – a league table measure in which schools are rewarded for pupils who get a C grade or above in five key subjects, including a language – appears to have boosted <a href="http://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/britishcouncil.uk2/files/language-trends-survey-2014.pdf">language take-up at GCSE</a>. Beyond that, there are early signs that <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ebacc-effect-pushes-pupils-into-more-academic-subjects-thats-a-good-thing-29931">the “Ebacc effect”</a> has begun to increased the numbers studying French, Spanish and German at AS Level. </p>
<p>Proposed <a href="https://alevelcontent.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/alcab-report-of-panel-on-modern-foreign-and-classical-languages-july-2014.pdf">A Level reforms</a> also promise to reinvigorate students’ passion for languages – <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-modern-language-a-levels-could-reinvigorate-passion-for-french-german-and-spanish-29356">particularly for French, German and Spanish</a> – by promoting a higher level of intellectual challenge and cultural understanding.</p>
<h2>Beyond the big three</h2>
<p>It is encouraging to see the recognition of a need for foreign language skills moving beyond media rhetoric towards actual policy changes. But while the nation is trapped in a <a href="http://www.britac.ac.uk/policy/State_of_the_Nation_2013.cfm">“vicious cycle of monolingualism”</a>, language education itself appears unable to move beyond the three modern foreign languages mainly taught in British schools and universities. </p>
<p>Of the ten languages listed as “<a href="http://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/britishcouncil.uk2/files/languages-for-the-future-report.pdf">most important for the UK’s future</a>” according to a 2013 British Council report, French, German and Spanish represent <a href="http://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/britishcouncil.uk2/files/language-trends-survey-2014.pdf">92% of languages GCSE entries, the other seven accounting for only 6%</a>.</p>
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<p>So how do schools decide what languages to offer? Our <a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/education/research/progress/abigail-parrish/#tab-2">preliminary research</a> points mainly towards tradition. French, for instance, appears to be the dominant language taught because it has <em>always</em> been so – for historical, economic or geographical reasons. Similar reasons explain the relative prevalence of German and, more recently, Spanish. </p>
<p>The decision to start providing a new foreign language is, of course, extremely difficult for a school that has gathered significant teaching resources for one of the “traditional” languages over the years. This difficulty is compounded by the limited number of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/oct/08/how-many-universities-dropped-language">graduates with skills in less common languages</a> and the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/sep/11/uk-languages-teaching-crisis">language teacher supply shortage</a>. So it is understandable that many schools have been reluctant to make changes.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/327492/evidence-report-81-ukces-employer-skills-survey-13-full-report-final.pdf">Employers report</a> that they cannot find the necessary linguistic abilities among UK school leavers. The most critical shortage is recorded in <a href="http://www.britishchambers.org.uk/assets/downloads/policy_reports_2013/13-06-06%202013%20Survey%20Factsheet%20SKILLS.pdf">languages of the fastest-growing markets</a>: Russian and Mandarin. This is thought to be <a href="http://www.britac.ac.uk/policy/State_of_the_Nation_2013.cfm">one of the reasons</a> why many UK employers recruit non-UK graduates. </p>
<h2>What attracts children to languages?</h2>
<p>Yet at the age when most students decide whether or not to study a language, employment prospects may not feel particularly relevant. Research shows that 14-year-olds in English schools can be very aware of the importance of languages in society and still decide not to study them. </p>
<p>The 600 pupils who took part in our <a href="http://tinyurl.com/qbtlrw8">recent study</a> mentioned more than 20 languages they would have liked to study, had they had the opportunity. They also showed a remarkable level of insight regarding the usefulness and personal satisfaction of knowing a foreign language. </p>
<p>In the schools we worked with, which offered French, German or Spanish, half the pupils chose to study a language the following year based on their perceptions of previous lessons and whether they considered languages to be important in their own lives.</p>
<p>For example, they were interested in multilingual social media, online <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-swedish-children-learn-english-through-gaming-31073">gaming</a>, and understanding the culture of children from other countries. Many also mentioned travelling abroad as another reason influencing their decision, which echoes the stereotypical perception that language skills are mostly needed for business and travel. </p>
<h2>Languages at our fingertips</h2>
<p>But we do not need to travel far to be able to learn a language. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-smartphone-apps-are-revolutionising-language-learning-25165">Smartphone apps</a>, for example, have opened up a range of new possibilities for language learning. While in Britain the focus is still very much on the “traditional” foreign languages, modern technology is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/21/can-i-learn-a-language-online">attracting a new demographic</a> to what was traditionally considered an elite skill. </p>
<p>An invaluable, though often overlooked, resource that many British schools have are bilingual children themselves, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/drop-the-negative-spin-on-kids-who-start-school-bilingual-they-are-a-rich-resource-for-the-future-28674">students with English as an additional language</a>. Without valuing and nurturing the multilingual skills that these young people bring into our classrooms and society, we will struggle to convert our language advocacy into meaningful change. </p>
<p>It is also difficult to succeed without real support for the most accessible role models our children have: language teachers. Schools with a multilingual ethos, which keep alive the passion that brought linguists into the classroom, are schools that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/aug/27/modern-foreign-languages-increase-pupils">buck the downward language trend</a>. With adequate support and encouragement, teachers will be the first to question the sustainability of self-perpetuating practices and propose ways to expand and develop provision.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Florentina Taylor has received funding from the British Council and the British Academy. The latter has funded some of the research referred to in this article (grant R1364801).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail Parrish does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The shortage of foreign language skills in the UK is now a permanent preoccupation, with some sources placing the estimated cost of the deficit as high as £48 billion a year. Britons are now seen as a…Abigail Parrish, PhD researcher in languages education, University of YorkFlorentina Taylor, Lecturer in Education, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.