4 Reasons to Learn Chinese in 2020

We've put together the top 4 reasons why you should start learning (or continue learning) Chinese in 2020. If you're already learning Chinese than that's awesome! And if you haven't started, or you've temporarily pressed the pause button, we hope that these reasons give you that extra push to start anew!

1 - A LOT of People Speak Chinese

Every year, Ethnologue publishes a list of the most spoken languages in the world. It’s no surprise that Mandarin is #2 on the list at 1.2 billion speakers (Mandarin is #1 most spoken language by native speakers). This means that you’re guaranteed to meet Chinese speakers wherever you are in the world. Learning Mandarin gives you an instant pass to communicate with a myriad of people you might have otherwise not been able to connect with.

2 - Economically Important

We’ve seen a big shift in economic growth over the first half of 2020, so we won’t get into the nitty-gritty. But without a doubt, China is still one of the world’s largest economies and will no doubt bounce back post-COVID. Learning Chinese allows you to tap into this growth. No matter where you live, if you’re interested in doing business in a global world, knowing how to speak Mandarin will allow you to establish trade relations with Chinese companies, strengthen partnerships and benefit from a plethora of business solutions that China offers from manufacturing to technical support to logistics.

3 - Knowing Chinese Looks Great on Your CV

Are you interested in boosting your career? There are countless professional opportunities in China, with a lot of domestic companies looking for international talent. If working in China is one of your goals, start thinking about taking the HSK (Mandarin House HSK Course). You’ll want to aim for HSK 5 if you want to be comfortable in a full-on Chinese work environment. China is home to some of the world’s most impressive and important start-ups (ex. ByteDance which owns TikTok) and these business leaders are looking for people who can speak Chinese and operate successfully within a Chinese setting.

4 - Learning Chinese is Good for Your Brian

Learning a new language can give your brain some incredible advantages. For example, researches have noticed that there is increased activity in certain regions of the brain when a second language is being used and that learning a second language can even help delay the onset of diseases like dementia. Mia Nacamulli talks about this and more in a pretty fascinating 5-minute video on YouTube called The benefits of a Bilingual Brain. There have also been studies that have linked learning a foreign language to increased creativity and problem-solving skills, helping you learn to think more out of the box. This makes sense given how different Chinese characters, accents, and history is from English. It’s a language that’s totally different from what Romance language speakers are used to, and that’s precisely why learning Chinese is a great exercise for your brain.

BONUS: It’s Not as Hard as You Think

Probably one of the best things about learning Chinese is the relatively uncomplicated grammar structure. Unlike a lot of Romance languages, Mandarin doesn’t have any verb conjugation or complicated gender and number distinctions. The word order of Chinese is also relatively simple since it’s the same as in English; subject-verb-object. Score! One of the most challenging aspects of learning Mandarin are the characters, but even that challenge is surmountable given the overabundance of online resources available. Check out our blog post on how to learn Chinese Characters for more tips!

So there you have it, 4 powerful reasons to start learning Chinese. Interested in reading more articles about learning Chinese? Have a look at the Mandarin House Blog.