May 28, 2007
Chinese As a 2nd, 3rd or 8th Language
There's a fantastic look at a cross-section of Queens residents in the Times today. There's a feature about a Wednesday night class at the James A. Bland Houses in Flushing, where a group of curious and determined residents are learning Mandarin. There's an Italian-American woman who explains, "Kind of like, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,'" a few people who simply want to communicate with their neighbors, and an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who knows seven other languages. The latter student, Frank Sygal, totally inspires us:
Mr. Sygal grew up outside Krakow and lost his parents on an August day in 1942 when German soldiers rounded up Jews, stripped off their jewelry and machine-gunned them. His facility with languages helped him survive: He spoke Russian with the Russian soldiers, Ukrainian with the Ukrainians and German with the Germans, reserving Hebrew for private spaces. Once he arrived in New York in 1949, there were two more languages to learn — English and Spanish.Heh, "ka-ching." Retired bus driver, Donald Henton, who asked City Councilman John Liu to sponsor them, had hoped the classes would be standing room, but they aren't and not everyone sees the value of learning Chinese. One woman tells the Times, "I was born here. Why should I learn their language?"Now, at 85, he has embarked on his last great linguistic effort. His progress has been maddeningly slow; at one point, Mr. Sygal approached “dozens” of Chinese people, he said, in a fruitless attempt to translate the word “ka-ching,” a term he had seen in a headline in The New York Post and assumed to be Chinese. He hopes that he will be able to carry on a conversation in Mandarin by the time he is 95.
“If I be around,” he said, “I be able to speak.”
Here's a graphic from the Times showing how many Chinese residents are in Queens. Of course, not every Chinese resident speaks Mandarin, but many do. And, heck, you can even learn Mandarin online.
Photograph of signs in Chinatown by rdcapasso on Flickr
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LeBron James has been learning Mandarin.
Hell, I learned Korean just so I could have better choices in what to eat here in Flushing.
That ka-ching anecdote is priceless. He sounds like a sweet and curious gentleman.
I almost signed up for a beginning Chinese class at the New School this summer but it conflicted with my work schedule :-\.
Wonder if there are classes for Cantonese?
the worst people are the NI HAO MA? Motherfuckers who just learned that phrase, say it badly and expect you to be impressed with their open minded views. Hello? you learned how to say a greeting. AND? what else? thought so.
"How many Chinese residents are in Queens", Jen?? You mean, "how many Queens residents are Chinese"? No surprise to read something like that from you (all)- you seriously need to all start proofreading before you put your stories up, for stuff like this and for spelling, grammar, etc.
The Bland Houses! The class can adjourn to the Little Pepper across the street and nuke their tongues. They'll be in bliss.
Dave, shut up.
Jojo -
Wo shuo de bu hao.
Wei shenme zhongguo nuren de nainai dou hen xiao, keshi Chung de nainai hen da? Hao bong oh!
I thought you had to advertise in English? Or is that rule just for store signs?
Anyway, it really doesn't matter, it will never be enforced because then some minority group will yell discrimination! And the government doesn't care because it knows that it needs these poor immigrant workers to a) lower the wages and b) keep the housing demand up.
Economics.
Jojo-- if it makes you feel any better, mainland China is full to the brim of citizens who will follow after western tourists shouting "Hello! Hello!", for exactly the same reasons. Thus, the cosmic balance of jackassitude is maintained.
Never take Chinese at the New School! Their classes are terrible. CUNY is far better (Hunter & Queens). Take it from me, a gringo from Sunnyside with the Mandarin skills. And I concur, the NI HAO MA people are incredibly obnoxious. Unless they happen to be under the age of 10, they need to learn a lot more about the most important country in the world. Ignorance will not be tolerated as the U.S. dollar keeps falling.