Rich and famous families teach their kids Mandarin as China's influence grows

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-27/musk-trump-bezos-zuckerberg-children-learning-mandarin/106813224

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/67255198

50 points · 6 comments · view on lemmy.world

6 Comments

Seppo@sopuli.xyz · 14 pts · 47d (3 replies)

Mandarin will never be a lingua franca, no matter how influential The Chinese Empire becomes.

themoken@startrek.website · 12 pts · 47d

I have to agree. People like to say English is difficult because there are a million loan words and spelling/grammar have no hard and fast rules, but character based languages are on a different level of difficulty. Even if it shifted to something like pinyin for text, the subtle tone shifting and having tons of a homophones are a huge barrier to entry.

JoMiran@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 47d

It won't, but it eliminates an unfair advantage in a business setting. It is amazing the shit people will say when they assume you do not understand.

Peppycito@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 47d

But it makes it seems like your trying if you can speak to your masters in their own language.

Fishnoodle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 47d

Yeah that's why they're doing everything to give China power. They've already got things planned out

alapakala@quokk.au · 1 pts · 47d

This explains Dengist-verse.