Now more than 40 million foreigners around the world are learning Chinese, according to a report. The relationship between the United States and China is becoming more and more important in the world. This has really influenced the growth of Chinese language learning in U. S.
I am Chris from the United States. I am one of the many people who are learning Chinese. I am studying at a Confucius Institute (孔子学院) in New York. There are 10 students in our class. Some are over thirty years old. Some are middle school students. Our teacher comes from Beijing. He is fun and often tells us interesting things in China.
I think Chinese is difficult to learn. The biggest challenge for American learners is the writing. Chinese is completely different from any other language in the world. It will take me a lot of time to learn enough Chinese characters. But I think there are many benefits (益处) of spending time in learning Chinese. One important benefit is that it makes me see things from a different point of view, because Chinese is such a different language from English. I think for American students the most important benefit is that learning a challenging language can open up their eyes.
