Mandarin is the new English

Thanks to the massive colonization plans by the UK during the Colonial Era and the era of New Imperialism and the US as a rising superpower after WWII, English has been a global lingua franca, or simply a dominant international language, for decades and the English speaking population has been gaining influence over economic, scientific, political, cultural and social developments.

While the native English speakers can remain smugly monolingual for a century (has learning a second language been more than just a hobby to them?), assuming the rest of the non-English speaking population will learn their mother tongue and fit in their world, the tides have changed with the economies crumbling in most, if not all, English-speaking countries. China, though affected by the global depression, is still enjoying positive economic growth. Suddenly, the Communist nation who was once scoffed at by others has transformed into a blue-eyed kid whom every Capitalist cool kid wants to befriend post-Cold War. And of course, if you can’t make yourself a Communist like North Korea or a military junta like Burma or Fiji, at least you should be able to speak his language to win his heart (or money).

Now, it’s the native Mandarin speakers who can enjoy the privilege of monolinguals.

Like all the blondes in Asian countries being assumed English speakers and thus targets of real life spoken English practice, I, having a Chinese appearance, am always approached by native Mandarin speakers who assume that I speak their mother tongue. They always came up to me and, without warning, started talking to me in Mandarin right away. And did I mention that I’m in Australia? I may as well be ABC, BBC, CBC (whatsoever-BC), Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, you name it. (Hmm...did my Columbia blazer or my Nike trainers give my nationality away?)

Moreover, since my supervisor somehow has an impression that I can speak Mandarin (which is not entirely false but not exactly true), she started referring all those Mandarin speaking clients to me. And my Mandarin being better than their English (which actually isn’t any), Mandarin has become the main tool of communication. Wondering why those who can’t speak survival English can immigrate to Australia (I’m not referring to asylum seekers of course)? Money is another international language.

My friend always jokes that people come to Australia to learn English while I come here to learn Mandarin. To be frank, I speak more Mandarin than I was in Hong Kong.

Whether it’s Mandarin or English that is dominating the world, as a Hong Kong-born native Cantonese speaker, mastering a second or n-th language has become a fabric of life. It is a life skill that we all have to pick up since we’re young. I’ve seen many bright kids who unfortunately aren’t blessed with the English sense fail to make it to college, despite excellent Chinese language skills and sound subject knowledge. How many life chances have they missed just because their second language is good enough for basic communication but not good enough for them to handle tertiary studies?

Language and economic power are interwined. However the tides turn, we are still the minority - both in terms of language, politics and economy. (though from time to time, I do indulge in an imagination in which Cantonese, along with traditional Chinese writing system, is the dominant international language and everyone around the world adores the standard Hong Kong accent and tries their best to imitate us. Life would be much easier then.)