Which type of Chinese language learner are YOU?

Looking around my Chinese class today, I started thinking about why each of my classmates was studying Chinese. This question isn’t new–I’ve been thinking about it off and on throughout my six semesters of Chinese language study. It comes up when I have to explain myself to friends and acquaintances, when talking with my fellow Chinese students, and when I notice classmates who are either incredibly bad or incredibly gifted at Chinese.

There are over 300 kids enrolled in Chinese at Princeton, but, of course, many of them are studying Chinese for similar reasons. In this post, I’ll attempt to break down the various “types” of people who’re studying Chinese:
Students can be immediately divided between those who study Chinese for practical reasons, (i.e. speaking Chinese opens up doors to various job opportunities; along with China’s rise, Chinese is becoming more and more important to know) and those who study Chinese so that they can study China in an academic setting (i.e. read Chinese literature and study Chinese history).

In my experience, 99% of students study Chinese for practical reasons, while 1% study it to study Chinese to read Chinese literature and history in the original. Where do I get this figure? Well, of the 100 or so people who completed my first year Chinese class, only one went on to study classical Chinese, while the rest of us studied modern Chinese. This kid is a classics major, fluent in five languages already, and has absolutely no interest in the practical aspect of speaking Chinese, much less communicating in Chinese with Chinese people. I can’t think of further ways to break down this type, type 1, “the academic learner.”

The pragmatic learners, however, can be broken down into many categories:

Type 2: “I’m learning Chinese to make money.”

Type 2s are a dime a dozen. They can usually be recognized by the fact that in their single-minded pursuit of learning Chinese because of its supposed potential to raise their future income, they don’t take particular interest in other aspects of the Chinese-language learning process, such as becoming familiar with and thinking about Chinese culture. As a result, they tend to be not so engaged or interested in class, and end up spending their time praying that they won’t be called on or have to demonstrate any mastery of the Chinese lesson at hand.

 

Type 3: “I look Chinese. China is hot right now, so I might as well take Chinese.”

I sympathize with type 3s. Type 3s, those who look Chinese but don’t speak the language, are constantly annoyed with the question, “oh, do you speak Chinese?” In the words of a ethnic Chinese who doesn’t speak the language, “when I tell them ‘no,’ I always feel like a disappointment.”

 

According to the head of Princeton’s Chinese program, ethnically Chinese students didn’t used to take Chinese before the mid 90s. Before China became hot stuff, he said, many Chinese in America just wanted to assimilate, and didn’t want to keep up ‘Chinese school’-like lessons after escaping their parents’ clutches in college. Now, however, China’s hotness and the desire to reconnect with what others assume is one’s culture is pushing a lot of Chinese or partially Chinese students to study Mandarin.

As a side note, Princeton professors have to constantly remind Chinese language teachers from China not to be harsh on those Chinese-language students who’re fully or partially ethnic Chinese. Apparently, these mainland Chinese teachers feel that those who look Chinese should already know the language, or, at the very least, be more gifted than other nationalities at learning Chinese.

Type 4: “I’m genuinely interested in contemporary China”

A type 4 is someone who is learning Chinese because China seems to be everywhere–in the media, in politics, economics, and academic journals. Type 4s make frequent use of the phrase “改革开放以后” and are fascinated with both what’s changed since 78 and what’s stayed pretty much the same.

Type 5: “I’m Korean and need to learn every other major Asian language.”

I don’t know how true this is at other schools, but at my university, Korean kids (not Korean-Americans) are enrolled in every offered Asian language course. Koreans have an advantage when writing characters because they have a “sense of space,” which is due to Korean using characters too.

Type 6: “I have to fulfill my language requirement.”

Type 6s are everywhere in beginner and intermediate Chinese courses. To fulfill their language requirement, they Chinese over French or Spanish because it looks good on their transcript (or, in rare cases, because Chinese is ‘exotic’). Type 6s are like even less interested in class than their cousins, type 2s. Luckily, by their very nature, type 6s tend to either disappear after the second year of Chinese, or transform like caterpillars into China-loving butterflies.

Type 7: “I’m learning Chinese for my career in the government.”

I find type 7s who want to be spies hilarious to be in class with because Chinese teachers hate them. At least, the ones in China do. I know a type 7 who told his Chinese teachers that he’s learning Chinese to work for the CIA. Annoyed with the thought that they’re training little anti-China agents, Chinese teachers loved to tell the type 7 that his Chinese would never be good enough for him to be a spy, and that America was full of much more qualified Chinese-Americans. Of course, type 7s aren’t limited to those who want to be spies, but also those who look towards a career in diplomacy–Chinese teachers have no qualms with these type 7s.

Type 8: “I’m missing the wave!–Juniors and Seniors in Chinese 101″

My favorite classmate in Chinese 101 was a graduating senior. Type 8s either needed the first two to three years of college to build up the courage to take Chinese, or had some sort of revelation that made them think taking Chinese, despite the fact that they’d never advance far enough to get a lasting foundation, would be a good idea. They want to join the new wave of westerners learning Chinese, and scramble to catch up. They realize that China and Chinese are becoming more and more important, and that the best time to take Chinese is in college, when you don’t have a full time job or other serious responsibilities. Type 8s are usually very enthusiastic about the course work–if they weren’t, they would spend 4 to 8 of their last precious college courses on Chinese. I have a lot of respect for type 8s, especially those who end up doing summer study abroad in China (rather than getting i-banking internships) because they actually want to learn Chinese well.

Type 9: “I speak Chinese at home, but am entirely illiterate!”

Like type 3s, I’m told that type 9s didn’t bother to take Chinese until China started become hot stuff. Now that China is hot stuff, type 9s are quick to cash in on their background in Chinese. I haven’t had the pleasure (pain?) of taking Chinese courses with type 9s yet, but I’m told that these “heritage” speakers tend to destroy non-heritage competition in class. Moreover, I’ve heard that “heritage” and “non-heritage” mixed classes are useless for both types of students. Such classes move way too quickly for “non-heritage” students, and too slowly for “heritage” students. Luckily, at least at my college, advanced Chinese classes that were previously mixed, are being separated into “heritage” tracts and “non-heritage” tracts to avoid this problem.

 

These are the nine types of Chinese language learners that I can think of, but I’m sure there are many more out there, and that most people are a blend of several types. I’d be interested to hear about which type of Chinese language learner you are, and about any type of student which you’ve come across, but that I haven’t included.

Reader submitted types:

Type 10: Missionaries

Any explanation needed?

Type 11: “Can’t bring myself to learn Elvish.”

Type 11s learn Chinese because they perceive it to be exotic, a language far different from their native tongue. Indeed, type 11s like Chinese because it’s like reading the Silmarillion: painfully boring, but dorkishly satisfying. Only you and a select few know why those runes characters contain each radical.

Type 12: “For the chicks, yo.”

I was about to put, “to pick up members of the opposite sex,” but, while I’ve heard of countless guys learning Chinese to pick up Chinese babes, I haven’t heard of girls learning Chinese to find themselves a Chinese husband. I also haven’t heard of people learning Chinese to pick up same sex partners–though it’s got to exist, right?