Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? - Politics (2) - Nairaland
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| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by SEFAGO(m): 11:00am On Dec 24, 2010 |
As things stand right now , China has a reserve some where near 2 trillion dollars, we have to be advertising our selves so we can get some of that as FDI as they look for where to use that. You have not elaborated how learning chinese would make us marketable. China wants us for our resources not to talk with us silly. Regardless, as long as we have oil, and africa has resources they dont give two hoots if you speak gobbledygook Dude i subscribe to this idea 100 %, we need to start learning Chinese ASAP. Usually to do so you have to take chinese classes no be so? My comment thus: Do you know how hard chinese is? It needs years of hardwork and dedication before you can even say a few words, not to talk of fluently speaking the language. Most lazy Nigerians cannot even learn the alphabet not to talk of the whole language. You suggested learning chinese but why? Wetin chinese have to do with FDI. They want your goods they dont wanna speak to you. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by akacoded: 11:07am On Dec 24, 2010 |
, but really an truely i dont see reasons why we should be compelled to learn Chinese language, i believe those POLY-TRICK-CIANS and those rass-klass in government should learn how the chinese people and their government have been able to move their country forward against all odds, we got so manyyyyyy pressing issues as individuals and as a nation to now recolonise ourselves with our own hands, im just thinking out loud though, |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Nobody: 11:18am On Dec 24, 2010 |
SEFAGO: |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Pennywise(m): 11:22am On Dec 24, 2010 |
The way I see it, English has come to stay as a prefered language in all business communication. The Chinese are late by at least 200yrs unless if they want to reconquer the world and establish colonies around the globe. They realize this that is why they are trying hard to catch up with everyone else by making English a compulsory part of school curriculum in some districts. My guess is that in a few years English will not be a Language of elite China alone, the average Chinese will learn how to speak English. The only threat the English language faced in the recent past was from the French Language not German even though Germany has a much stronger economy. The reason being that there are significantly more geopolitical entities that speak the French language (some of which are now culturally being assimilated by the English) an advantage the Chinese do not have. Which other country speaks mandarin outside China (and Taiwan)? People can learn to speak chinese out of curiosity. Hardly any business advantage exists. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Ibime(m): 11:39am On Dec 24, 2010 |
If Jim Rogers (of George Soros fame), could send his children to learn Chinese, then we should know the way the world is trending. Can someone play Jin - Y'all g'on learn Chinese! |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by AjanleKoko: 11:54am On Dec 24, 2010 |
SEFAGO: If you learn it with English letters, not so difficult. When you get to understanding their symbols, well, another story entirely. But they speak reasonably slow, which is good. I have an audiovisual tool I use to learn both Arabic and Chinese. The languages are both a pain when it comes to symbols. But both can be learned though - which is why I want my son to learn Chinese early. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by SEFAGO(m): 12:28pm On Dec 24, 2010 |
Interesting. Usually, in universities - they teach you the alphabets first or at the same time with the english words. The issue with languages is that as you rightly identified- its best to learn it at a young age. Good idea, if possible try and make your kid learn german or french though, trust me those are more useful than chinese. Pennywise has succinctly summarized why chinese would not be that important. You learn chinese if you plan to get an internship in china or study sino relations of something like taht . Thats about it If, and when I have kids, I would make sure they take one or two languages outside english. It does wonders when you apply for jobs. People I know who studied chinese, german, french got jobs in great firms all over the world. Companies thoug prefer your ability to speak the language up to business level as opposed to have taken a few classes. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by disnaijguy: 1:26pm On Dec 24, 2010 |
The initial post did not suggest Nigerians learn Chinese because of China's growing influence in the world. The Professor's argument was that given Nigeria's (and Africa's) trade relations with China, it was interesting nobody could understand what the Chinese were saying during the negotiations. I was a suggestion meant to provide an edge during trade negotiations, it had nothing to do with Chinese becoming the new English! It is typical of Nigerians to jump into an argument without the context! |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by GNaija: 10:55pm On Dec 24, 2010 |
Exactly. It is about being able to understand what the Chinese are saying during trade negotiations. Yes, Nigerians can get translators but how would you know if he/she was not misleading you? Prof Chan has represented African countries in trade negotiations with China, so, he know what he is talking about. Please let's listen and learn rather than argue pointlessly. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by ekubear1: 9:12am On Dec 25, 2010 |
Learning more languages is always useful. But there are always opportunity costs in life. Time spent learning Chinese is time that could be used to learn math/physics/engineering/economics/business. And the latter is more important than the former, imo. And might French not be more immediately useful for Nigerians? What fraction of our international trade is with China vs. French speaking countries, and what are the projections for 30 years from now? |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by ikeyman00(m): 6:06pm On Dec 25, 2010 |
@@@@@@@@@@@ the starter of the thread should relocate to zimbabwe and this thread should be taken down |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by invisible2(m): 9:57pm On Dec 25, 2010 |
GNaija: You must be kidding, so, the whole nation needs to learn Chinese just to be able to understand what they are saying during negotiations? How many negotiations happen between Nigerians and chinese. We have been importing and trading with Chinese nationals since forever, who taught those ibo boys Chinese? What we need is to organise our business sector and strnghten our economy so it will be competing internationally. So a chinese can desire to learn Yoruba, and not the other way round. (inferiority complex no good o)Nigerians that need to learn chinese can do so without making too much noise about it. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by GNaija: 1:25pm On Dec 26, 2010 |
@Invisible, it is about need. Even Nigerians don't conduct national business in yoruba or any of the other nigerian languages so how would it help the Chinese to learn yoruba? Nobody is saying every nigerian should learn Chinese, we are talking about key people, particularly those who represent vital national interest like the multi-billion dollar oil deals that have been recently signed with China. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by invisible2(m): 2:42pm On Dec 26, 2010 |
GNaija: Thank you, since even Nigerians dont do business with Yoruba language, they do so in English, chinese nationals in the same vein do business with English, we have a common language and dont need to learn more. If we must understand them, lets look for our people who lives there, dont be surprised some Nigerians born there may be speaking Mandarin more than some chinese, this is a non issue really. Something we dont even need to know about. The whole nation dont need to learn chinese, let those who need to learn it, and life goes on. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Yorubah(m): 3:38pm On Dec 26, 2010 |
Minyao !! Hello  |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by juman(m): 5:29pm On Dec 26, 2010 |
Yes we need to learn Chinese. China has a lot to offer other countries. Even here in Western Europe, countries encourage their people to learn Chinese, because they know its importance. I know some people here learning chinese. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Nobody: 2:39am On Dec 27, 2010 |
Prof. Chan OBE, during his interview with GNTV, said the Chinese know more about Africa than Africa knows about the Chinese and suggested Africans learn chinese, so they can understand what the Chinese are saying in secret. This is a blatant lie. Guys, the Prof is just promoting the "Chinese economic colonization of Africa" by encouraging Africans to learn Chinese. Though, it is not a bad thing for Africans to learn Chinese considering China's rising economic might in this our global world. However, it should not come at the expense of a cheap lie and false justifications. The truth is, Africans know more about the Chinese & China - by a very huge margin - than they (Chinese) know about Africans and Africa. For seven years I lived in Vancouver , a city with the highest population of Chinese anywhere outside of China, and presently I live in a China town else where, and I say their knowledge of Africa and the culture of its people is infinitesimally small compared to most foreigners. People need to be reminded that the Chinese society is a very close society; Chinese are very closely knitted people and tend to segregate themselves from other people wherever they go, hence you see China towns wherever the Chinese people are in significant numbers, hardly learning about the culture and language of their country of residence. For instance, there are tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants who have been living here in Canada for the past 20 yrs ,and dont even know 20 words of English; sounds almost unbelievable, but it is true. Such is not known to happen to Africans. After 1 year of residing in a foreign country, an Average African immigrant is able to understand and have basic conversations in the language of the people of the country he/she resides. Most Africans, know about the Chinese and there culture from watching Chinese movies, which is a passion for most young kids in Africa. Even with the little we learned about them from their movies, the Chinese are always astounded that we know so much about them, while they know nothing about us, our culture nor our language, and as a result, their prejudice about Africa and African is worse than most non-Africans. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by coldhearts(f): 4:01am On Dec 27, 2010 |
Anyone that wants to learn has their own reason and it's not a bad idea to learn it even for the fun of it either. For those who say it's hard, nothing comes easy but guess what, i know some yorubas that are learning it already. The future is going to be very different from today and knowing more than English (especially learning mandarin or cantonese) is important. Anyway, you can simply allow yourself to be deceived by friends of nigeria who say otherwise  . 学汉语; zai jian. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ps @ maple, many chinese bias against us comes from what was portrayed about us by foreign media but eventually some of them developed their own opinion and changed that rhetoric. So they have some ignorant people there who have prejudice just like we do so how can we judge them?. I sense a bit of amnesia here - did chinese enslave us?, did they kill us for just looking different? talk of prejudice but yet we forgive. Anyway, things take time to change and it's definitely changing already. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by ekubear1: 11:52am On Dec 27, 2010 |
Maple: Wow. Even young folks? That is amazing. So I guess these Chinatowns in Canada are self-sustaining economically? Otherwise the kids would be forced to go elsewhere to earn incomes (and thus master English)? |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Revolution: 8:01pm On Dec 30, 2010 |
This is FANTASTIC news. China and Nigeria are building one of Africa's largest free trade zones in the commercial capital Lagos, to be used as a manufacturing base for export to Africa, and even Europe. This is great news for manufacturing in Nigeria. Maybe those who can speak Chinese will be given first priority when they start employing staff to work in the trade zone. See story here: http://greatnigeria.tv/video/193/China-Nigeria-Free-Trade-Zone |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Alicece: 3:19am On Sep 02, 2015 |
Study Chinese because it will greatly help when you are traveling to and within China. If you are able to easily and efficiently get around on your own because you know the language, then you will have a much more enjoyable and less confusing travel experience. The important thing of learning Chinese is interest. The best and most effective way is to communicate with local people. You can have a try of this Mandarin Chinese school, teachers here are locals. |
| Re: Do Nigerians Need To Learn Chinese? by Norhim(m): 11:54pm On Nov 14, 2019 |
I Think learning chinese is very important to Africa especially Nigeria...did you know that chinese land are now being taken by large contity of water......china is trying to make africa a chinese continent....cos i don't why they are exploiting us with greek gift...come to think of it |
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