Kickstart School now offers Chinese courses. But why would you want to learn Chinese? Next to potentially being useful for your career, learning Chinese can be a fascinating view into a culture quite different from the western world. 

Electric brain?

As a student of the Chinese language, I found that learning Chinese isn’t only an improvement to your resumé, it is an improvement to your wellbeing. The warmth and patience Chinese native speakers give to you when you try even the easiest of sentences is wonderful. For years Chinese students have been learning English, therefore they know that learning a new language is a great challenge. However, in some ways the Chinese language makes more sense than you think. In order to explain that you must first know that most Chinese words are made up out of two characters. For instance: 电脑 which means computer. This word is constructed of the first character 电 which in most cases means electricity and the second character 脑 which means brain. Combine these two and you have an electric brain, which translates to computer. 

Table manners?

Just like in many other places in the world, China is home to some very interesting table manners. Some of the stereotypes are true, like the sounds of slurping when you're eating noodles. Some of the stereotypes are not true, not everyone burps when they are eating, it is considered to be rude. Of course, eating with chopsticks is already a huge difference to the more western oriented way of eating with cutlery. But if you don’t use the correct fingers to operate the chopsticks (快则) or are struggling while learning, this is not a problem. There are many things that are frowned upon, however there is one thing you should definitely not do: sticking your chopsticks vertically in your rice bowl. This symbolizes death, it portrays the ritual of burning incense.

Join our Chinese courses and learn more about Chinese language and Chinese culture at Kickstart School.