Unless you’ve spent last ten years of life meditating in a monastery in the far-off Himalayas, you would know that now China is world’s second largest powerhouse. And one of the effects of this has been the surge in a number of foreigners who’ve started to learn Chinese.
Smart parents recognize the role China is going to play in the world economy in future and that’s why in last few years there has been a 300 percent increase in demand for Mandarin Chinese. Parents living in the western countries, as well as those working in Singapore, want to give their children a head start in their career by enrolling them into Mandarin classes in Singapore.
If you want your child to learn a new language but are not still sure whether Mandarin Chinese is the one you should pick for him or her, here are two more facts that should help understand the advantage of learning Chinese.
- Mandarin Chinese is the most popular first language in the world. There are five million more Chinese speakers than English.
- Chinese is the second most popular language on the Internet.
Enrolling your child into a Chinese language program is an investment, which will pay your child handsomely in future.
Is it right to enroll a child early in a Chinese language program?
This is the second-most common question parents who are thinking about enrolling their child into a Chinese language program ask, the first obviously being whether Chinese is a good language to learn.
All experts agree that learning Chinese is much easier in childhood than adulthood. Actually, this is true for all languages, but more so for Mandarin Chinese, because it is a tonal language. In a tonal language, like Chinese, the same words can be pronounced in completely different ways. Learning how to do this for a non-native person is easier in childhood.
Probably this is the reason why experts recommend parents to enroll their child in a Chinese language program as early as possible.
How soon can I enroll my child in a Chinese language program?
Well, different programs might have a different minimum age. With that said, most Chinese language programs allow parents to enroll a child as soon as he or she starts going to school. Some even allow parents to enroll child when he or she is only one year old. You can also encourage your child to take up Chinese as the second language in his or her school if you are not in favor of a private children mandarin course.
What are the advantages of learning Chinese for a child?
Apart from better career prospects when he or she turns adult, child benefits in many ways if they learn Chinese in Singapore as a second language. Two most important benefits are:
- Creative thinking – Research shows that learning Chinese helps stimulate cognitive growth in young children, besides activating the development of both sides of the brain.
- Motor skills – Chinese is written in a different way than European languages, allowing children to develop better motor skills.
