2004年的时候，有超过2500万外国人学习中文。不过，随着世界范围内学习汉语兴趣的迅猛增长，预计在未来几年内学习汉语的外国人将多达1亿。
Back in 2004, over 25 million foreigners were learning Mandarin Chinese. But with an exponential growth in worldwide interest, it’s expected that as many as 100 million foreigners will be studying Chinese within the next few years.
That’s truly unbelievable. While the vast majority of people learning Mandarin do so in China, there are many places around the world where studying Chinese is taking hold. In Japan, the most popular foreign language after English is Chinese. Korea boasts more than one million students of Chinese. France now has more people studying Chinese than anywhere else in Europe.
确实令人难以置信。虽然绝大部分人到中国学习汉语，但是在世界的地方学习汉语已经蔚然成风了。在日本，汉语是除英语外最受欢迎的外语。韩国的韩语学习人数超过100万。在欧洲，法国学习汉语的人数排在首位。
是的。在欧洲、美国和亚洲国家都掀起了汉语学习热。据我了解，日本有约200万汉语学习者，法国有数百所中学已经开设了中文课。不过，我也读过一篇报道，该报道称大多数以英语为母语的人认为学习一门语言并不容易、比较耗时，而且往往也不值得投入时间和精力，因为大家现在都说英语了。
Yes. The upsurge in learning Chinese can be seen throughout Europe, America and Asian countries. As far as I know, in Japan, there are approximately two million Chinese learners, while France has introduced Chinese language courses in hundreds of middle schools. Having said that, I have read a report that argues that for most people whose native language is English, learning a language is not only difficult and time-consuming, but often not worth the time and effort because ‘everyone speaks English’.
But here is the fact: Chinese is the most widely spoken and fastest growing language in the world. Chinese is now also being taught in many schools in the USA because chances are those kids will need to speak it in the future.
但事实是，中文是世界上使用人数最多、发展速度最快的语言。在美国的许多学校也开设汉语课，因为将来孩子们很可能也需要讲些汉语才行。
说实话，我认为要想充分了解中国文化和历史的话，你就需要学习汉语这门语言。我并不是说你非得要能读懂儒家学说，但是，有些汉语的内容如果用英语表达出来完全让人不知所云，只会让你更一头雾水。一旦你掌握了哪怕是基本的书面汉语，你就能够让信息之间产生联系，对中国的社会和思维方式有更深的理解。
I honestly believe that in order to fully understand Chinese culture and history you need to learn Chinese. I’m not suggesting that you need to be able to read the works of Confucius, but there are just some things when spoken in English make absolutely no sense and leave you feeling more confused than before. Once you get to grips with even the basics of Written Chinese you will begin to make connections and comprehend more about Chinese society and mentality.
You can say that again! Chinese are travelling abroad more often. If you work in tourism, it’s definitely worth speaking a little Chinese to accommodate the big spenders. As Chinese businesses such as electronic goods, textiles and petrochemicals expand more into the West, China aims to turn around the term ‘Made in China’ into a more positive ideal and working alongside the Chinese to achieve these goals will be imperative in almost every industry.
没错儿！现在中国人出境游越来越多了。如果你从事旅游业的话，学点汉语是绝对值得的，这样可以更好地服务中国游客这一“金主”群体。随着中国电子产品、纺织服装和石油化工等行业企业进一步走出去，进入西方市场，中国希望能够就此改变“中国制造”的形象，向更加积极的目标迈进。在这一转型升级过程中，与中国人共事达成这些目标将是几乎所有行业的当务之急。
有研究显示，学习中文与学习其他语言使用的大脑区域是不一样的。学习中文与学习英文相比存在许多差异，比如：中文有声调和汉字，因此，据说学习中文更费脑力！
Studies suggest that learning Chinese utilizes areas of the brain that learning other languages does not. As there are many differences between learning Chinese compared with English such as tones and characters it is said that learning Chinese takes more brain power!You bet! If you choose to learn Written Chinese, learning to write characters can help with motor skills and visual recognition will keep the mind sharp. Bilingual people, in general, are also said to be better at prioritizing and multitasking than monolingual people. So if you want to keep your brain on the ball or keep yourself organised, Chinese is the language for you!
肯定是啊！如果你学习书面汉语，你要学习写汉字，这会帮助你提升运动技能，视觉识别会让你思维敏捷。通常来说，会双语的人比只会一种语言的人更擅长确定事情的轻重缓急和一心多用。所以，如果你想让大脑保持活跃或者让自己做事井井有条的话，那就选择学习汉语吧！
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