Does second language acquisition always guarantee a job?
No. It increases opportunities. You are better to develop an interest in the language and culture for its own sake, or you will not succeed. That is true of any language. Chinese is no exception. You do not have to love it all, but in every culture there are things to enjoy. What are some of the obstacles for Westerners who are studying languages like Mandarin and Japanese? The writing system and the lack of common vocabulary are big hurdles. But the biggest hurdle is the perception that the language is so strange that we cannot learn it. We need to imagine ourselves as Chinese or Japanese. I did it twice for Asian languages. When I speak Japanese I am Japanese. The same is true for Chinese. Are K-12 foreign language programs in the U.S. effective? I can only speak for Canada where they are mostly very ineffective, although there are exceptions. There is far too much emphasis on producing the language and on producing it correctly. That is simply not possible without a lot of input. Le
