Posted on 04/02/2005 3:29:18 PM PST by MadIvan
AMBITIOUS New Yorkers are rearing a generation of “little emperors” fluent in Mandarin so they will be equipped for a global economy that may come to be dominated by China.
Chinese nannies who can bring up bilingual babies are sought after in Manhattan, and nursery schools are adding the language to their curriculums.
Jim Rogers and Paige Parker are the parents of Hilton Augusta, a 22-month-old blonde, blue-eyed girl. She already understands as much Mandarin as English after her parents hired a Chinese nanny. Their apartment is decorated with words for objects such as table and chair in English and Chinese script.
“China is going to be the next great country in the world,” said Rogers, a writer and banker. “We thought we should start to prepare her at birth for what will be the most important language in her lifetime.”
Finding the right nanny took weeks. She had to speak the kind of Mandarin heard in government circles in Beijing. Clifford Greenhouse runs the Pavillion nanny agency in New York. “There’s been a tremendous surge in demand. We get dozens of requests a year. It is extremely hard to find the right, well-educated, cultured Mandarin speaker,” he said.
Many of the requests come from families of mixed Chinese and American parentage or from parents who have adopted girls from China.
But a good third are from parents who hope to give their children a leg-up in the globalised world. Rogers and Parker plan to enrol Hilton Augusta in St Hilda’s and St Hugh’s, a private nursery and elementary school in Manhattan, which is adding Mandarin to its curriculum in September.
Virginia Connor, the headmistress, said the classes would begin with toddlers. “We’ve been asking ourselves what will children need, not just five or 10 years ahead, but a long way into the future.”
Hilton Augusta will be more prepared than most. Her parents have booked a holiday in Shanghai this summer to reinforce what she has learnt and to familiarise herself with the culture.
Rogers said: “I’m pleased and proud that one day my daughter will be talking about us with her friends and we won’t know what she is saying.”
Parker admits to misgivings about being excluded from what will be an important part of Hilton Augusta’s life. “I do worry about it a little but the benefits outweigh any uncomfortableness I feel.”
But what if she gets elected president of the USA, thanking Hillary and grampy George Soros for being her role models? Then sets about declaring those silly state borders meaningless and declares all trade contracts must go through the Chinese ambassador first?
Yup.
I believe in learning foreign languages - as a lad, I learned Latin and German and have picked up Dutch, some Russian and some Hungarian since. However the motives in this case are ridiculous - it's not for understanding or enlightenment, it's to communicate with elites who already speak English.
Regards, Ivan
BUMP
Now. I have studied Chinese for more than 10 years. Its great to study. Its interesting by all means. I love it.
Their reasoning for studying Chinese though is utterly stupid though.
I met a person just two days ago...a wealthy investor...who heard that I speak/read/write Chinese...and he made it a point that his ten month old "WILL learn Mandarin"...
Beside from trying to force a kid to do something he fails to understand that Chinese is a liberal arts field.
There are two major ways to translate Mandarin into money...
1. Work in the government 2. Teach others Chinese (ie be a professor)...
Otherwise without some tangible skill to accompany Chinese those guys will end up working in Starbucks with the rest of the finger painting majors...
They would be far better off teaching their kids finance or something like that. If they do it out of sheer cultural appreciation thats a whole different story. That is very much so to be commended.
Not to knock Chinese though...its a lifelong interest of mine and I have no intention of stopping any time soon...
But reality being what it is...they are demonstrating ignorance.
I can visualize my very first memory (not much of one: a garbage truck going down an alley while I watched from a 2nd story window) quite clearly.
My parents say I was 18 months old at the time.
Finding Shirley was no easy task. Jim Rogers put an ad in the China Press and at first got responses only from people who spoke no English or were illegal immigrants. Then, before hiring Shirley, he had friends (Rogers travels to China frequently) test her Mandarin to find out “whether she speaks gutter Mandarin or a queen’s Mandarin.”
“I don’t want my daughter to grow up and suddenly start talking like a tramp at age 9,” he says. Shirley now lives in the family’s Upper West Side home, and Rogers is feeling good about his investment: “Even if my little girl weren’t very smart, she’s always going to get a job because she’ll be totally fluent in Chinese.”
I touched a few others later on...and ultimately got bored with all of them. Until I learned Mandarin...which I have stuck with going on 11 years...
Language has always been an interest of mine. Its definately good.
What MadIvan is talking about is this yuppie dumbass group viewing Chinese as some new age culture...some superior group of people.
There is NOTHING wrong with learning from a young age to be a global citizen (ie respecting and showing keen interest in all people). Heck, I am a product of that very environment....
However their kids could study Afrikaans, or Dutch, or Russian, or Swahili or any other number of languages and get that too.
These people think China is taking over the planet.
To study out of interest in people or anthropology, or linguistics, or history, or any other number of legit fields is fine. To study because one thinks you will be eventually conquered by X group is a bit Haley Boppish....especially for Chinese.
There is enough Chinese culture to interest anyone just about... but thats not their reasoning it doesn't sound like.
Don't you hope...
They may not remember facts and figures but young children are EXTREMELY moldable. There is a pattern set out for most people that starts before 3 years of age...in how one thinks and other 'intangible' aspects...
Depends...kind of like there is only one flavor of English? Eh Chap? Jolly good.
Hate to be disagreeable, but there is a lot more than one flavor to Mandarin.
There are more variations than one can imagine...
quod erat demonstrandum
My sentiments exactly.
QED
In vino veritas!
Well, I will probably use the more popular term Zhonghua Minzu (Chinese race) then - I understand this is even more revolting for non-Chinese. ;-)
Good job doing what?
Odds are there are going to be a whole different set of skills needed in there too.... my "other" skills are a range of financial talents and research (and sales).
Quid agis, medice?
I only play one on tv?
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