According to Reuters, American lawmakers seem to be waking up that there is a lack of resources for American students to learn the Chinese language. I’m glad this is finally becoming a bit more evident. I was complaining when I was in high school that Chinese wasn’t a language choice, even though I went to a really excellent high school that offered French (what I studied), Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese and Latin. Latin!? And no Chinese? Man, that drove me nuts.
Now, there’s even a bill introduced by Joe Lieberman to encourage US-China cultural exchanges: United States-People’s Republic of China Cultural Engagement Act.
Studying Chinese has been one of the most enjoyable academic experiences I’ve had. It’s exciting to think that the next generation of students will have Chinese as a foreign language choice.
