Chinese is the New World’s Language

Now could be a good time to learn Chinese in preparation for the on-going shift of the world’s language.

Photo from Philip Jägenstedt’s flickr

The ability to speak, read and understand English is vital to communicate to a diversified range of people. It is the language of the world’s scientific academe and political reference. It is even predicted during the 19^th century that English will be the world’s language.

But English is declining. Chinese is rising. And the world’s tongue is adjusting.

Chinese is now the most widely spoken language in the world. This is mainly due to the multitude of Chinese population. In China alone, there are more than 1.3 billion Chinese and those who are scattered around the world speak their own language as well.

In the business world, Chinese is sitting comfortably along English as the most useful language. Transacting business matters using a common language is essential for rapport building but also for the “speed and effectiveness of your negotiations”, says Leigh Hafrey, a senior lecturer in communications and ethics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.

The Chinese people better use their voice because it takes years to fully master the language. Learners should find the best memorization technique that works since Zhongwen Da Cidian (Great Dictionary of the Chinese Language) lists 50,000 Chinese characters, whereas English only has 26 alphabets. Being a tonal language, different tones of the same word have different meanings. And there are variations in form of dialects – Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Min, and more.  Each has internal diversity.

Despite the barrier of difficulty, westerners demand to learn it. Michael Roemer, an attorney who lives in California, brought his family to live in China. His purpose was to teach his two children the Chinese language because according to his own words, “speaking Mandarin is important”.

While Europe and USA remain the key players in the world’s economy, they recognize the gaining power of Asia, especially of the Chinese economy. Companies worldwide manufacture in China. The Chinese people are the biggest consumers of goods. Learning the world’s newest language would maintain the west’s competitiveness.

Language is power. Those who don’t speak it will be secluded. But China seemed to pass on this opportunity. It showed no interest to influence the world to make their language native. China casted English classes throughout the colossal country so the population could speak English when they hosted the 2008 Olympics.

Even without the slightest of effort from China, Chinese is still emerging. Right now, 9% of the population spoke English at birth. By 2050, it’ll be down to 5%. This gives room of expansion for the next major language.

Are you ready to learn the Chinese language?

Sources:
English in Decline as a First Language, Study Says; National Geographic
Mandarin Chinese Most Useful Business Language After English; Bloomberg
Can Chinese Replace English as the Global Language?; Chilli breeze
Chinese learn English for Olympics; Chine Daily
Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard; pinyin.info

Genetically Modified Humans Are Created

The genetically modified organisms (GMO) are corn, tomato, soy, cow.. and the latest addition was human.

Photo from NASA

There is a “drug” that will cure a rare fat production disrupting disease by modifying a damaged gene; and 1 or 2 people in a million will get the treatment. You may think that it’s not that bad, at most there could be two people per million to be modified. That’s not the only story.

30 genetically modified babies are already created in the US. The cover reason behind this is parents having problems conceiving. 2 of those babies have gene combinations from 3 different parents. Now these parents will have a more favorable life, as the geneticists state, “this genetic modification method may one day be used to create genetically modified babies ‘with extra, desired characteristics such as strength or high intelligence’” (Gucciardi, 2012).

There are no policies guiding genetic modifications of humans, and powerhouse countries are taking advantage of it. Human stem cells are implanted on goats in China; human brain cells are embedded on mice in the US; 150 human-animal hybrids are grown in the labs of UK.

We don’t know what these monsters are for. Maybe for research to treat diseases, maybe something else. What we know is the government funds scientists and biotech companies to achieve “a much larger feat – genetically modified humans in the form of ‘super soldiers’” (Waking Times, 2012).

Rats that ate genetically modified corn either became ill or died (Mestel, 2012). Let’s say we take away ethics, GMO’s safety is still not guaranteed. But the bigger issue here is invasion of GMOs. When you put a genetically modified plant in a field, it could potentially affect the other plants by sucking all the nutrients from the land. Via survival of the fittest, the GMO plant will persist and reproduce until the rest of the field is full of GMOs.

Now that we have genetically modified humans, are we breeding a new class in the society, a group called the “superior race”? How long can us, the normal race, will last? At the time the GMO babies reproduce, the spread will start.

Now that scientists are claiming that they could trace the “criminal gene”, it may not be too long to produce another drug to isolate that gene; and thus, controlling humanity. People started thinking that we could correct the disordered genes. When will they stop? Until they produced the perfect human? Perfect is not characteristic of human at all.

Are you scared of the genetically modified people living with us?

Sources:
Study points to health problems with genetically modified foods; LA Times
Genetically Modified Babies ‘Created’ in US – The World’s First; Natural Society
Genetically Modified Humans? New Gene-Altering Drug Paves Way for Mass Modification; Waking Times
150 human animal hybrids grown in UK labs: Embryos have been produced secretively for the past three years; Dailymail UK

Alien Life: We Come In Peace?

“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans”.

British weapon, the Taranis and the sketch of sighted alien craft

Those are the wise words of Stephen Hawking commenting on how an alien discovery could bring more danger than good. And let’s face it, he has a point – after all, if we were to find an alien species with higher level of intelligence and understanding than us, how would parties on both sides react?

It seems like every other day there is another rover being sent to some distant planet on the edge of our solar system, looking for signs of life. More telescopes pointing towards the skies and everything from written messages to radio waves all in a desperate attempt to find life.

Add to that, more people looking to the skies with little more than the naked eye – claiming to have seen alien spaceships and UFO’s.

People today are obsessed with such a possibility and how it will change our understanding of science and the universe. More films are being released with various different scenarios revolving around the idea of discovering alien life and how us and them would react.

Ideas of invasion, death on a large scale and manipulation may all sound completely ludicrous and similar to that we may expect from a feature film. But nobody knows exactly what kind of danger lies within our universe and what we could potentially be dealing with.

On a more positive note we would come together as a race, as Ronald Reagan once stated: “I occasionally think how quickly we would set aside our difference if we faced some alien threat from the other side.”

Nick Pope, a former British Ministry of Defence UFO expert claims aliens have been around us for some time and can come in all shapes and sizes.

Possibly one of the most significant recorded alien sightings was in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, United Kingdom – not far from where I am currently based – where an alien space craft apparently landed between two defence bases.

Many people tried to cover up this case as much as they could, but what the people working at the defense base claimed to see is frightening to hear – especially when it seems Britain’s latest fighter craft – the Taranis – looks similar to that of the UFO claimed to have been seen near Rendlesham Forest.

It is also worth noting what some would call excessive defense systems in place during the London 2012 Olympic games, where missiles were placed on top of a number of blocks of flats across the city.

Is or was Britain preparing for an alien invasion? And if so, are they aware of certain alien activity across the planet that the rest of us are unaware of? Or is the Taranis just the latest unique addition to modern warfare?

As Nick Pope said in a recent interview regarding skeptics of the idea of alien contact: “The believers only have to be right once.”

Let’s just hope no one ever has to report on an alien takeover of planet earth.

Should we be taking a step back?

Sources:

The truth is out there… UFO expert Nick Pope talks about aliens; The Independent
Britain Has Alien-War Weapons, Says Former Government Adviser; Truth Alliance Network

Daniel Mayes Is A Recent Journalism Graduate With An Upper-Second. He Has Experience Working At BBC World Service, Sky News Online And Has Worked On Projects In Europe And Africa.  

You can read more articles from Daniel at: danmayes.wordpress.com

Senkaku Islands: “War is the only solution”

The Senkaku Islands are covered in jungle but no rivers – it’s uninhabitable.

Photos from theatlantic.com

This month Japan bought the islands, prompting large-scale protests in China. Japan has been in control since 1972 anyway. But there might be a lot of oil reserves.

The dispute was caused by the territorial claims of Japan and China. The islands are within the boundaries of both countries, because they are close to Chinese coast as well as the Japanese one. Japanese boats have been on patrol to prevent Chinese fishing boats from visiting.

It is strange that China makes a fuss of the islands. They never really seem to have cared about them; Japanese boats have been on patrol long before this dispute. What would China want to do with those islands?  The oil that can be found there might be of some use, but it can’t be as important as China makes it seem. And the financial argument of China can’t possibly be better than the cultural argument of Japan. It became clear that a financial argument was possible in 1971, so why protest against the Japanese claim now? China hasn’t  been able to use those oil (and gas) reserves for 40 years, it can’t be that important if you ignore those reserves for so long.

This doesn’t make Japan good though. They tell the world that China only wants those islands for the money, but isn’t it a strange coincidence that Japan is in control of the Senkaku Islands since 1972, one year after the oil discovery? And why do they want to be the official owner of the islands, when they have been in control for so long? An answer for that is the money they’ll get from the oil reserves.

Is the dispute only about oil? There is also an important military shipping lane and it offers fishing grounds.  But does China need the fishing grounds or the oil? Probably not. They can’t need the strategic shipping lanes either, as if they would fear Japan more if it ‘officially’ owns these islands.

For China it is important to create an enemy. It is better for the harmony among people when they all have the same enemy; Japan. If China encourages protests, everyone in China will become mad at Japan. Normally if people protest in China, people are beaten and sent to jail. In the anti-Japan protests, no one is hurt. China is supporting the protests, if not organising them.

In front of a camera a Chinese civilian said: “They are stealing our land. War is the only solution”. If all civilians would be as easily manipulated as she is, war will be the only way to relieve their anger. What if Japan is not the chosen enemy but Europe or the United States? How easy would it be for China to start a war, to convince their people they’re right?

Is war the solution to this dispute?

Walk Away from Traffic

The true causes Traffic jam?

Photo from geo.sunysb.edu

It isn’t the density of people, but the density of cars. As shown in the photo above, a bunch of people occupied the whole street when they rode with their personal cars. Head-striking traffic is eradicated when people use economical mediums such as a bus or environmental such as bicycle.

December of last year sold 1,145,079 vehicles in United States. With roughly a million cars sold each month, no wonder why our roads are intersected with traffic.

People blame different factors to traffic. Main in the list was the disturbances, like accident or construction constricting the road. And of course, rush hour, the most used excuse.

Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu rides the public bus to work; while every person is prided with his or her own vehicle in the United States.

If you’ll just go to the book store a block away, walking won’t be bad. Cycling is a nice time to think and feel the rush of air while all those time burning hundreds of calories. Technology can help us live better, but not to the point of laziness. There’s no technology for clearing away traffic magically nor technology to permanently keep an inactive body healthy.

If people use their feet to pace a proximity, or be smart to ride with other people than seclude themselves on their personal cars all the time, there will be less traffic.

So, can you walk?

Sources:
December Auto Sales Primed For Year’s High; Auto Observer
Japan Airlines’ CEO pays himself less than the pilots, takes the bus to work; boingboing