Totino-Grace will go from “World languages” to “Western languages” because of students losing interest in the Chinese program.
One of the many pull factors of Totino-Grace is their worldwide variety of languages, offering Spanish, French, and Chinese. But, after 20 years, they’ve had to say a sad goodbye to Chinese.
Current and former students of Chinese report that the disinterest may be due to being intimidated by not only learning the language itself but the uniqueness of the Chinese writing style as well.
Similarly, some students have admitted that the workload of the class has been the only downside that has made it hard to keep them motivated to turn in their assignments. Though others have reported that they love the style of learning and that they have never “slaved” over Chinese homework.
“Chinese isn’t meant to ruin your life. Learning a language is a skill that opens doors and gives opportunities. Opportunities for work, friends, and life. The purpose of the Chinese class is to spread the joy of learning a language,” says Jodi James, current Chinese instructor at Totino-Grace.
Statistics say that over 40 million people in America speak Spanish in their homes, whereas for Chinese it’s only a bit over 3.5 million. Even though Spanish is more frequently spoken in America, Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world.
James believes that the tones, Hanzi, and the particles may be just the thing that drives people away. There’s no spelling, grammar, verb conjugation, or tenses in Chinese, just a simple sentence structure consisting of Time + Subject + Verb + Object + Particle.
So, what’s so intimidating about learning the language? According to Olly Richards, “Most of the difficult aspects of commonly studied European languages do not even exist in Chinese.”
Current Chinese student Lucas Lord explained that the class is relatively easy and that the assignments that are given are simple to understand. “The tones aren’t that hard as long as you know the general meaning and pronunciation of the Hanzi.”
James encourages students to learn Chinese despite the alleged difficulty. “It’s a myth. This isn’t rocket science”. Even if the interest in the class is low, there’s the option to participate in Chinese Club for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year.
“You show up and do it, and have a blast and then you’re done; there’s not a lot of work to it,” states the former Chinese Club captain.
Although James is sad to leave Totino-Grace, she’s excited for the new opportunities that will arise for her. “If you want something to be successful, you have to promote and inform.”
James assures, “Chinese has been around for 5,000 years. Don’t worry, it’s not going away.”
