Shared Futures

Signal8 Digital

What's it like to learn Mandarin Chinese?

Developing a wider pool of Mandarin speakers is seen as being of vital strategic importance for the UK’s relationship with China. Yet it's not only the nation's global rise that makes Mandarin an attractive subject. For many students it offers a rewarding complement to learning a European language. A group of Year 13 students at Manchester Grammar School share their experiences of studying Chinese including what inspired them to take it up, what are its challenges and what advantages they believe it could yield.

Manchester Grammar School

Studying a country’s language helps to explain how a culture works, says Ismail Yousuf.

Chinese, for an English speaker is one of the hardest languages to learn. You need around 2,200 hours to be able to speak it fluently. For this reason studying extremely hard and never giving up is crucial.

Manchester Grammar School
Year 13 Chinese language Students

Updated 22-07-2022

Training more Mandarin speakers is of vital importance if Britain hopes to build a productive relationship with China. That’s the message of a new report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), which concludes that the UK lacks sufficient knowledge and understanding of China to make sensible decisions. Finding those linguists might not be easy.

According to Ru Lan, head of Chinese at Manchester Grammar School, the inability to visit China during the Covid pandemic and the lack of an A-level programme for non-native speakers following the cancellation of the Pre-U Chinese programme, has had a big impact on intake. ‘ Last year, we had 13 Year-13 pupils studying Chinese – our biggest ever cohort. This year, only three Year-11 pupils have chosen the subject for the next academic year.’

Despite the reduced numbers, China’s growing heft remains unavoidable. It was something seen early by Manchester Grammar School, which first introduced Mandarin classes in 2007. Some 140 Year 7 to 13 pupils choose the subject each year with around 25 taking GCSE Mandarin.

“The Chinese economy is important to everyone, so being able to speak Chinese will definitely enhance your career prospects.” says Felix French, a Year 13 pupil who previously lived in China for almost two years.

“Visiting China is an eye-opening experience. It changes your opinion about the country and the people of China for the better. Shanghai is an extremely modern and safe city and I would love to return there in the future.”

This enthusiasm is reflected by others in his class and suggests a wider interest in the region. “I love travelling and learning about other cultures and studying a country’s language is an amazing method of learning how that culture works and how the people think,” says Yousuf Ismail, who has studied Mandarin since 2014 and relishes its challenges.

“Chinese, for an English speaker is one of the hardest languages to learn. You need around 2,200 hours to be able to speak it fluently. For this reason, studying extremely hard and never giving up is crucial,” says Yousuf, who plans to study Chinese and business at university.

This sort of experience and understanding will be critical for building the UK’s next generation of China specialists. Yet with the Cambridge Pre-U Certificate in Mandarin Chinese due to be withdrawn after 2023 – and with it one of the main routes to Chinese study at degree level – and a replacement yet to be announced, how this aim might be achieved is unclear. Students such as Felix and Yousuf could find their language skills are in high demand.

Signal8 wishes to thank Felix French, Yousuf Ismail and Usman Hafiz for sharing their experiences and to Ru Lan for arranging the interviews.


Produced by Manchester China Forum and Signal8 Digital.
Video edited by Lihan Xu.
Graphic by Signal8 Digital.


Shared
Futures

What's it like to learn Mandarin?

Developing a wider pool of Mandarin speakers is seen as being of vital strategic importance for the UK’s relationship with China. Yet it is not only the nation's global rise that makes Mandarin an attractive subject. For many students it offers a rewarding complement to learning a European language. A group of Year 13 students at Manchester Grammar School share their experiences of studying Chinese, including what inspired them to take it up, what are its challenges and what advantages they believe it could yield.

Manchester Grammar School
Year-13, Chinese-language Students

Updated 22-07-2022

Training more Mandarin speakers is of vital importance if Britain hopes to build a productive relationship with China. That’s the message of a new report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), which concludes that the UK lacks sufficient knowledge and understanding of China to “make sensible decisions”. Finding those linguists might not be easy, however.

According to Ru Lan, head of Chinese at Manchester Grammar School, the inability to visit China during the Covid pandemic and the lack of an A-level programme for non-native speakers following the cancellation of the Pre-U Chinese programme, has had a big impact on intake. ‘ Last year, we had 13 Year-13 pupils studying Chinese – our biggest ever cohort. This year, only three Year-11 pupils have chosen the subject for the next academic year.’

Despite the reduced numbers, China’s growing heft remains unavoidable. It was something seen early by Manchester Grammar School, which first introduced Mandarin classes in 2007. Some 140 Year 7 to 13 pupils choose the subject each year with around 25 taking GCSE Mandarin.

Chinese, for an English speaker, is one of the hardest languages to learn. You need around 2,200 hours to be able to speak it fluently.

“The Chinese economy is important to everyone, so being able to speak Chinese will definitely enhance your career prospects.” says Felix French, a Year 13 pupil who previously lived in China for almost two years.

“Visiting China is an eye-opening experience. It changes your opinion about the country and the people of China for the better. Shanghai is an extremely modern and safe city and I would love to return there in the future.”

This enthusiasm is reflected by others in his class and suggests a wider interest in the region. “I love travelling and learning about other cultures and studying a country’s language is an amazing method of learning how that culture works and how the people think,” says Yousuf Ismail, who has studied Mandarin since 2014 and relishes its challenges.

“Chinese, for an English speaker, is one of the hardest languages to learn. You need around 2,200 hours to be able to speak it fluently. For this reason, studying extremely hard and never giving up is crucial,” says Yousuf, who plans to study Chinese and business at university.

This sort of experience and understanding will be critical for building the UK’s next generation of China specialists. Yet with the Cambridge Pre-U Certificate in Mandarin Chinese due to be withdrawn after 2023 – and with it one of the main routes to Chinese study at degree level – and a replacement yet to be announced, how this aim might be achieved is unclear. Students such as Felix and Yousuf could find their language skills are in high demand.

Signal8 wishes to thank Felix French, Yousuf Ismail and Usman Hafiz for sharing their experiences and to Ru Lan for arranging the interviews.


Produced by Manchester China Forum and Signal8 Digital.
Video edited by Lihan Xu.
Graphic by Signal8 Digital.