Thomas Cheatham had planned to study Latin during his time at Hebron High School in Texas. But when he learned that the school district was going to offer a Chinese class, he quickly changed his mind.
"I think Chinese would be beneficial than Latin," said Cheatham, who is now in his second year of studying the language. He speaks Chinese to order food at Chinese restaurants and reads social media posts from his Chinese-speaking friends. While it's a difficult language to master, the high school student, who plans to study computer engineering, thinks it will be important for his career. "Chinese is a good language to know, especially with China becoming a growing power," he said.
Many experts agree that proficiency (熟练) in a language spoken by about 1.4 billion people worldwide will give American students an edge in the global economy.
"People's interest in Chinese is growing fast" said Marty Abbott, director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. "We're seeing it in all parts of the country."
Abbott predicts that as many as 100,000 students are now studying Chinese in public and private schools, throughout the US. She said the US government had designated (指定) Chinese as an "important needs" language and provided professional development programs for teachers. "Our government wants to increase our language ability for national security and economic competitiveness," Abbott added.
At the same time, the Chinese government is spreading knowledge of the Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes (孔子学院) set up in many US states. For example, the Confucius Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas has been the home of a Confucius Institute for more than 10 years. It sponsors Confucius Classrooms at 21 local public and private schools, where tens of thousands of students are learning Chinese.
