Introduction

For many years now, the world has been insisting that everyone should speak English.  But across the world, countries have provided their young with initiatives to learn other languages also.  Yet in recent months, Americans have now come to realize that there is now a need for people to able to speak languages that are more specialized.  Certainly, the fact is that one language which many schools are now considering including within their curriculum’s, not just in the USA, but around the world is Chinese.

Presently, 1.3 billion people speak Chinese around the world, and of this, 885 million speak Mandarin (the official language of China), which also happens to be the most dominant dialect.  Currently, in the USA, only 24,000 students (Grades 7 through to 12) are actually studying this language, but their numbers are steadily growing.

However, the biggest problem that many educators in the US are facing when it comes to expanding their Chinese programs, is finding people who are actually qualified to teach it.  There are only a few Universities in the USA which offer programs to allow people to train and gain their teacher’s certification in teaching the Chinese language.  One University (George Mason) included a program which would allow people to gain their teacher’s certificate for teaching Mandarin and a total of 2 people enrolled on the course.  This is where exchange courses come in useful and are very critical to helping ensure that this language, along with Arabic, can be taught in US schools.

However, for those that are interested in learning the Chinese language, you will find it can be very difficult.  So you need to be prepared to spend a good deal of your spare time, as you will find it will take some time to learn.  However, through this book, we hope to provide you with some useful information that will help you to learn Chinese.