American Efforts to Bridge U.S.-Chinese Language Gap

To meet the challenge as China becomes a global competitor and partner, Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-California.) introduced a legislation to overcome the language and culture barriers between future generations of Americans and Chinese.

The U.S.-China Language Engagement Act sets out to increase Chinese cultural studies and language acquisition for school-aged students of the United States through grants to Local Education Agencies (LEAs). The grants, given on a competitive basis, will carry out innovative model programs for Chinese language and cultural studies in elementary and secondary schools.
"It is little news to anyone that China is on the rise," said Davis, a member of the U.S.-China Working Group. "Some may view China's resurgence as a threat. But we must turn China's rise into an opportunity for United States citizens. Through careful diplomacy, I believe China can become not only a competitor but also a partner."

China is now the U.S.'s second largest trading partner and continues to rise as an economic and political force in the world. However, little understanding exists between the two nations culturally and there is little dialogue between citizens. Chinese or Mandarin is spoken almost exclusively within Chinese-American communities in the United States and few Americans learn the language.

While an estimated 200 million Chinese school children are studying English and American culture, less than 50,000 American elementary and secondary students are studying Chinese.
Funding for the U.S.-China Language Engagement Act is authorized at $20,000,000 in 2008 and $25,000,000 for fiscal years 2009 through 2012.

Davis's bill is part of a larger legislative package on U.S-China competitiveness. Bills addressing trade, diplomacy, and energy were introduced by U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), and Steve Israel (D-NY).