"We know the situation in Japan is terrible right now, so we hope that our activities can help the Japanese victims, " said Chinese organizer Jing Yao, a junior aspiring to be Mandarin language teacher.
The cash-strapped BBC recently ended its World Service Mandarin-language short-wave broadcasts after 70 years.
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Taking their cue from European hotels, which offer such culturally conscious amenities as Chinese breakfasts, Mandarin-language signs and Chinese concierges, US hotels are working to make Chinese guests more comfortable.
More than one billion people count Mandarin as their native language.
Try to enroll in Mandarin classes before you go (Mandarin Chinese is the default language in almost every part of China), or try to teach yourself some of the basics -- the BBC website has a decent introduction to learning Chinese.
This sheer numerical dominance, plus the fact that China has the world's fastest-growing economy, has made Mandarin Chinese attractive as a foreign language for more American students.
Ninth-grader Nicole Zido is already fluent in Cantonese, but her parents, both from Hong Kong, want her to learn Mandarin, China's official language, but Zido says she has her own motivation for wanting to learn the language.
Paradoxically, knowledge of the local language, like Japanese or Mandarin, is not a prerequisite for effective communications for organizational development.
There are language courses in foreign languages like Mandarin.
While we were cramming to learn English or Mandarin, we forgot to learn the vocabulary of the foreign language of our feelings.
Mandarin enthusiasts say that once that fear factor is overcome, the language is actually not too hard to learn.
"More than just instilling Mandarin into them, we would want it to be about giving them the joy of experiencing the language overseas, " says Mr. Baird.
Parents stop using traditional tongues, thinking it will be better for their children to grow up using a dominant language (such as Swahili in East Africa) or a global one (such as English, Mandarin or Spanish).
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