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Find Mandarin language study abroad programs Find study abroad scholarships for Mandarin Chinese language studies Explore Other Featured Languages WHERE MANDARIN CHINESE IS SPOKEN Mandarin is the official language of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and is one of the four official spoken languages of Singapore. With Chinese immigrants having settled in many other countries around the world over the centuries, there are substantial numbers of Chinese speakers in many other places around the world including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, Mongolia, Vietnam, and even South Africa. Chinese is one of the official languages of the United Nations. China has the largest population of Mandarin speakers with over 874 million people using it as a first language and 1,052,000,000 if you include everyone who speaks it as a second language. Taiwan’s population includes over 4 million people using it as a first language and another 15 million speaking it as a second. Indonesia has 5.5 million Chinese speakers. There are at least 2 million in America, 1.8 million in Singapore, and 417,000 in Malaysia. |
Study Mandarin Abroad
Why Study Mandarin Chinese? Another reason for studying Mandarin is the increased level of understanding you can achieve when visiting or living in countries such as China or Singapore. You will learn more and gain greater cultural understanding if you are able to understand the native language. Knowing Chinese characters can also give you an advantage if you wish to go on to learn other languages such as Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, or other dialects of Chinese such as Cantonese. If you are familiar with Mandarin, you will also gain access to a rich body of Chinese-language literature and film. Chinese culture is one that respects honor as a necessary trait in a human being, and their literature and art very much reflect that. No one has dealt with the ideas of honor more than film director Yimou Zhang, whose many films including his most recent release, Hero, starring Beijing born and world-wide superstar Jet Li, have won countless international film awards. Lu Xun is considered by many to be the forerunner of modern Chinese literature, and The True Story of Ah Q, written in 1921 but set in 1911, is often considered the writer’s masterpiece. Mao Dun is another famous Chinese author who wrote stories such as Spring Silkworms and The Shop of the Lin Family. Teahouse by Lao She is a famous play involving over sixty characters spanning more than fifty years. A Little Background How to Study Mandarin Chinese Abroad Many programs are surprisingly inexpensive, and include an array of cultural enrichment activities like visits to museums, remote villages, temples, biological research institutes, historic grottos, and mountains. Adventurous students can hike to Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunan Province and explore the Yangtze River, or escape into the recesses of the Turpan Depression, also known as the Oasis of Fire, and learn about the language, culture, and history of China, or travel to the top of Tibet and witness the famous view of Mount Everest. There are also great educational opportunities in some of the most important business cities in the world like Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as in Wuhan, known as the "Silicon Valley" of China. Peking University has 14 college and 17 departments offering 86 undergraduate programs, allowing students the opportunity to find a program that fits into their educational goals while immersing themselves in one of the fastest growing modern cities in the world. Other programs offer internships accompanied by intensive language courses. Career Opportunities
ONLINE RESOURCES Funding for Study in China or other countries with Chinese language programs Chinese Universities on SUNY Brockport Study Abroad Mandarin Language Encyclopedia.com History of Mandarin on InfoPlease.com Mandarin Numbers on Ethnologue.com Mandarin Use In America on FindArticles.com Find Mandarin language study abroad programs Find study abroad scholarships for Mandarin Chinese language studies |
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The most common reason for studying Chinese is the profusion of people who speak it in one of its many dialects. Over a billion people have Mandarin (the national dialect of China) as their country’s official language, making it the most widely spoken language in the world. In fact, about one-fifth of the world speaks some form of Chinese, and Mandarin is one of the United Nation’s official languages. Mandarin is also becoming an increasingly important language for international business and politics, especially as China gains political clout and participates in more international importing and exporting.