To Improve Kids' Chinese, Parents Head to Asia

迈克尔-罗默(Michael Roemer)是一位律师，2010年他请了一年的假，把加利福尼亚州奥林达(Orinda)的房子租出去，然后带着妻子和孩子来到了中国西部城市成都。之前他从来没有在国外生活过。
Michael Roemer had never lived abroad before he took a one-year leave of absence from his job as an attorney, rented out his family's Orinda, Calif., house, and moved to Chengdu, a city in western China, in 2010 with his wife and two children.
罗默的目的是让他的一双儿女埃林(Erin)和康纳(Conor)近距离了解中国，并为他们学习正在迅速成为一门必学语言的汉语创造更好的条件。现年57岁的罗默说，会讲普通话是很重要的。不仅是罗默夫妇，越来越多的西方人正不辞辛苦帮助孩子学说普通话。随着中国在全球的影响力越来越大，这些父母希望孩子能够与这个国家的13亿人顺畅沟通。这种现象与上世纪80年代日本经济繁荣时期人们争先恐后学习日语的情形非常相似。
Mr. Roemer's goal: to give his kids, Erin and Conor, an up-close look at China and an edge in what is fast becoming a must-learn language. 'Speaking Mandarin is important,' says the 57-year-old Mr. Roemer.The Roemers are among a growing group of Westerners going to great lengths to give their kids a leg up in Mandarin. With China's rising global influence, these parents want their children to be able to communicate fluently with the country's 1.3 billion people. The phenomenon is similar to what happened in the '80s, when Japan's economy boomed and there was a rush to learn Japanese.
不过这次，上补习班对一些人来说已经不够了。家长们把孩子送进了从加州到缅因州不断冒出的纯普通话课堂。他们聘请家庭教师，通过Skype与北京的老师交谈，还雇用讲中文的保姆。一些人在娱乐室里放满了普通话版的迪士尼影碟──更不用提那些旨在教孩子学普通话的iPhone应用程序。
But this time, after-school classes aren't enough for some people. Families are enrolling their children in Mandarin-immersion programs that are springing up from California to Maine. They are hiring tutors, Skyping with teachers in Beijing and recruiting Chinese-speaking nannies. Some are stocking their playrooms with Disney videos in Mandarin─not to mention the iPhone apps aimed at making kids into Mandarin speakers.
罗默说，克服学说普通话的挑战会让孩子变得非常自信。他还说，学习中文对大脑有好处。不过他也说，孩子们一开始上学时对所处环境一片茫然，自己看着也很有压力。
Of learning Mandarin, Mr. Roemer says, 'mastering that challenge gives [the kids] a great deal of confidence.' Learning Chinese, he adds, is 'good for the brain.' Still, he says it was stressful watching his children struggle in a place wher at first they didn't understand much of what was happening at school.
已经回到美国的两个孩子说，即使现在无法完全坚持学习普通话，他们也很看重在中国学习的那一年。九岁的埃林说，虽然掌握普通话的声调还是很困难，但在另外一个国度生活一年还是非常棒的。11岁的哥哥康纳说，在不想让其他人──比如父亲──听懂自己的话时，他能改说另外一种语言，这让他感觉很好。康纳说，有时候爸爸知道的东西没有我们多，所以在商量送他什么生日礼物的时候，我们可以不让他知道。
Now back in the U.S., the Roemer kids say they value that year in China learning Mandarin, even if they can't quite keep it up now. 'It was cool living in a foreign country' for a year, though achieving command of Mandarin's tones remains difficult, says Erin, age 9. Her 11-year-old brother Conor says he likes being able to switch into a different language when he doesn't want other people─like his father─to understand. 'Sometimes my dad doesn't know as much as we do, so if we're talking about his birthday present we can keep it from him,' Conor says.
据招聘机构说，会讲普通话可以让求职者在就业市场获得加分。高管猎头公司光辉国际(Korn/Ferry International)驻洛杉矶高级副总裁迪斯泰法诺(Michael Distefano)说，美国没有多少讲普通话的人，所以会讲普通话是不是一个竞争优势呢？答案是肯定的。迪斯泰法诺正在上高中的儿子也在学习普通话，并希望有机会在亚洲找一份工作。
Recruiters say Mandarin gives candidates an edge in the job market. 'When it comes to Mandarin speakers, we don't have them [in the U.S.], so does it give you a competitive advantage to have it? The answer is yes,' says Michael Distefano, a Los Angeles-based senior vice president at executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International. Mr. Distefano's own son is studying Mandarin in high school, with an eye towards possibly working in Asia.