Learning is always a good idea. We live in a world where everything is constantly changing, so we must adapt. The most important thing to know is which language you should learn. You need to know learning Chinese offers many benefits to personal and professional growth not least gaining a better understanding of one of the richest cultures in the world. Why? here are several reasons Mandarin should be your choice:

1. Most Spoken non-English-Language in the world

Chinese is a language that is spoken across the globe and currently spoken by nearly one-fifth of the world’s population There are more than one billion people who speak Chinese in Asia alone. And almost 900 million of those people speak Mandarin! You will find even more speakers around the rest of the globe, many of which are not necessarily Chinese people. Mandarin speakers can be found in Mainland China, Taiwan, and diasporic Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia, North and South America, and Europe. Chinese is also an official United Nations language (along with Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish).

2. Cultural Knowledge

Learning Chinese opens up a unique window into one of the world’s richest and most ancient civilizations. As soon as you begin studying the Chinese language, you begin learning about Chinese history, cultural values, philosophical and religious beliefs, and aesthetic traditions. Filled with talented artists, incredible temples and artifacts, you will always find something fascinating to learn about Chinese culture. Being able to speak Mandarin, you will actually be able to read all sorts of books and watch many movies in Chinese. It is always better to be able to experience everything created in its native language.

3. A Unique Skill

Chinese, for all its growing importance, still remains a rare language skill among Americans. In 2013, just over 60,000 American college students enrolled in a Chinese language program. Due to the lack of people in the Western business world who can speak both Chinese and English, there’s a huge demand for these skills, and this can of course mean very lucrative wages. Through learning Chinese, you can transform yourself from a low value employee into somebody who is critical to the success of a project in China, thereby making yourself a very attractive hire.
In committing to study Chinese, you can look forward to being equipped with a still uncommon and highly valued second language skill.
Like other non-Western languages that are deemed critical to U.S. national security, Chinese has been designated a Critical Needs Language. Numerous U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the NSA, USAID, Department of Commerce, and FBI actively seek employees proficient in Chinese for a wide range of jobs. Some of these agencies provide scholarships for students pursuing Chinese language studies as well as pay incentives for employees who bring Chinese skills to their job.

4. Isn’t as Hard as you Think

One of the most common reactions people have when you suggest they learn Chinese is to complain that it’s incredibly difficult. Luckily for Chinese learners, this is completely wrong.
Chinese has no tenses, no cases, no genders and simple grammar. When it comes to the issue of grammatical complexity, Chinese is really one of the easiest languages there is to learn.
Unlike most European languages, it does not feature complicated constructs like cases and genders.  It also treats tenses in a very simplistic way. Furthermore, unlike other East Asian languages such as Korean and Japanese, the language is free from complicated honorific grammar. When you consider how long learners of other languages focus on verb conjugation and genders, you will begin to understand that this is an area where Chinese learners can rapidly outpace learners of other languages.
Even the difficulty of characters and tones is exaggerated
A final point to be made here about Mandarin Chinese is that even the difficulty of its hardest parts—characters and tones—is exaggerated. People will often dismiss Chinese by saying things like “Won’t I have to learn 10,000 random pictures?” or “Doesn’t every word have 10 meanings?”
The truth is that characters are not random pictures, but a reasonably organized system of radicals and phonetic elements that isn’t too hard to understand. In addition, a learner really only needs to know 2000-3000 characters to have a reasonable degree of fluency.
With respect to tones, while important, they are not necessarily critical to understanding. In actual fact, Chinese people tend to use context more than tone to understand what you are talking about in any given sentence.

5. Boost your Career

Knowing Mandarin Chinese is bound to be an eye-catching skill on your CV. China’s economy is one of the world’s biggest and it is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. It will make you well positioned for jobs in business, diplomacy, engineering, science, law, philosophy, political science, technology, finance, tourism, translation, teaching, and much, more. By learning how to speak Mandarin, your employer will know that you will be able to work with companies and clients from outside your country. If you are looking to be involved in international business, this could be a great opportunity for you
In fact, a seminal study of languages in the U.S. jobs market found that Chinese is not only the most-requested language after Spanish by employers, but the language that has experienced the greatest growth in demand. Between 2010 and 2015, the number of job postings requiring Chinese language skills increased by 230 percent! In addition to working in a cross-border capacity, people who speak Chinese can support companies, nonprofits, and government agencies that market to and serve Chinese-speaking communities right here at home. The United States has a significant Chinese-speaking population: approximately 3 million U.S. residents speak Chinese at home, almost two-thirds of which have limited English proficiency.

6. Communicating while Travelling

The biggest benefit of learning Mandarin is that allows you to uncover the mesmerising country of China on your own. If you are not the typical tourist, then take the chance to learn Mandarin, and you will find that on your travels you will unearth the “real China”. Even with limited speaking skills, locals will value the effort and will make a special consideration to welcome you.
Did you know that Mandarin is not only spoken in Taiwan? Countries like Malaysia and Singapore along with many others have large Chinese populations. Knowing Mandarin, you will be able to make your travels a lot easier. Speaking more than one language will allow you to travel to many different countries and be able to communicate with the locals on a better level. It will also help you to better experience the country. While most people want to just travel to Hong Kong so that they can use English to communicate, you will be able to see so many more places!
 
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