The Importance of Mandarin in the New Milieu Dont you know that Philippine demographic wise, we have a huge

number of pure Chinese and or Filipino Chinese citizens. Several years ago, Chinese nationals were migrating in the Philippines, but they originally came from Fujian province of China, thus their main language is Fookien, instead of the most popular Mandarin. Now, if you are asking yourself, should there be any difference? If yes, is there a big deal? To answer these technical questions: Yes, there is a big difference between Fookien and Mandarin, if one Chinese native speaker do not know or understand both of the said languages, then it will be impossible for them to understand each other, better yet, write the conversation through a piece of paper and pen, that way, there will be meeting half way and conversation. During childhood, my father decided to not be conventional, sent me to a Chinese school, instead of a Catholic school. Apparently, I am one of the few Filipina under a huge numbers of Chinese surnames during attendance, very much highlighted during my class absences. Primary years, weve studied Fookien, not only limited to that, but the school shaped our attitude and character into perfection and made our heart stronger to prepare ourselves in the survival of the fittest. In Philippine Civil Law, the law provides that parents of the child alone can commit corporal punishment, but not to the point of molestation and harassment. However; this traditional Chinese school disciplined us to take off our shoes while entering the school premises, taught us to sing Chinese songs that we even have to perform up front, the teacher threw us shells, literally, in the airspace whenever were gossiping and whispering during class hours, yet we love that kind of humility. Summer time of year 2006, I decided to learn Mandarin, since BPO industries then have a highest demand for employees that can speak as well as write the Language. Not to mention the fact that even Chinese characters change over time, from the traditional to simplified versions, thus, it should be a continuous learning for none native speakers. Here, we call our China Town, Binondo, where I studied my Mandarin. The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce initialized and initiated to offer a class, semester. There are Beginner I, II, and Business Chinese programs. Said Federation goes hand in hand with Beijing Language and Culture University, where they are sending several of their interns to come to Philippines to teach Mandarin. I took my beginner class slack and easy till I saw and hold my book Threshold Vol. 1, and unconsciously uttered from nowhere sure, this is beginner? I dont think so, that is because the textbook contains simplified Chinese characters all over, although the book started with the usual greeting of Hi and Hello, yet there are about 19 vocabularies per lesson, overwhelming. One of the toughest parts of learning the language is to know when and how to use Pin Yin correctly. Pin Yin is the Romanization of those Chinese words. And, due to sensitivity of the pitch of the Language; a word might contain several meanings, and talking to the native speakers might cause misunderstanding and humiliation. We have several Mandarin schools in the likes of Berlitz and Confucius in the Ateneo University, classes vary either from weekdays and or weekends, depending on the students availability, it is usually by groups, except for those that are already in the Intermediate phase. If you are planning to take scholarship, study in China and or Taiwan, or work in the said countries, then you may take the HSK exam, this examination measures the examiners fluency in Mandarin. Confucius holds the examination twice, annually, and they are offering review classes as well. Confucius Institute is taking presence in almost every Country of the world. Some Universities in the United States are engaging in partnership with Confucius to institutionalise and stabilise a Mandarin school. Thus, learning Mandarin is just in our finger tips, and is depends on us on how we want to secure our future in this modernization, learning new knowledge wont harm us, instead make us improve our lifestyle, thus, lets go and arm ourselves the power of understanding Mandarin.

Hi! This is Maech Medina, a former student of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines. To read further read various of my blogs, then heres my link www.maechmedina.blogspot.com. Thank you for reading my articles, hope that you like them, and will be glad to hear from you soon.

Learning Mandarin is just in our finger tips, and is depends on us, on how we want to secure our future in this modernizing world. This article will tell you how the Language will help improve your career lifestyle by embracing the power of understanding the Language.