Languages of the Future: Chinese vs. JavaScript
- Transfer
Do you want to equip your children with skills that will benefit them all their lives? Want to learn something new yourself and surprise foreigners? Nothing is simpler: learn a cool unfamiliar language. That's all you need to know, faced with a choice: what language - Chinese or JavaScript - should you and your kids take up .
General accessibility
Is it easy to learn a new language? Are you baby If so, you have nothing to worry about. If not, good luck.
But do not despair! The situation with JavaScript is somewhat different. Programming languages are by definition simpler than human. After all, in the end, they are designed to be understood by very simple machines like an alarm clock. Children show better results in mastering new coding languages, but this task is quite feasible for adults as well. In intensive JavaScript courses, they declare: fluency in this art is achieved by participants in 3-4 months.
With Chinese, things are a little more complicated. Infants under 7 months of age can distinguish all possible nuances in the sounds and tones of human dialects, starting with the difference between the German “b” and “v”, and ending with the Chinese “mā”, “má”, “m« ”and“ mà ” .
If babies grow beyond the boundaries of a particular language group, they lose the ability to recognize its unique tones. However, children can become native speakers of most languages, if up to 12 years they often hear speech in a specific dialect. But if you are already an adult, you will have to devote more time to this. And spend a lot more effort. Preliminary estimates are as follows: adults will need to spend 3-4 years in China in order to achieve a free level of language proficiency.
Availability : JavaScript +1 point
Carriers
Chinese is the most widely spoken human language, spoken by up to 1/5 of the world's population. And although most of these carriers live in the East, knowledge of this dialect can become your pass to the Chinese quarters of cities around the world.
JavaScript will probably not be able to catch up with the Chinese language in terms of the number of people using it in the near future. But you will get such data if you count only living carriers. But after including all the machines using the code in the list, the situation will change dramatically. Just remember how many appliances you have at home, including microwaves, alarms, etc. I see, right?
Media : Chinese +1 point, JavaScript +1 point
Career benefits
Let's say you start investing your time in learning Chinese. This skill is often called a significant factor in career development , but is it? Yes, you will have a skill unique to the western world. But at the same time, it can be a drawback. American and European companies usually do not indicate fluency in Chinese in the list of requirements for applicants simply because such a person is difficult to find. Communicating is much easier in English, because most Chinese professionals speak it well. In fact, to get the most out of your Chinese, you first need to be in the labor market of this Asian country.
It is predicted that by 2020 in Europe there will be a deficit of 900 thousand IT-specialists. And in the United States in the next decade, the lack of professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics will reach 1 million people. In the UK and Finland, coding studies have already been made compulsory in all elementary schools, and other countries will soon join this initiative.
In the future, knowledge of JavaScript will cease to be a specific skill, unlike fluency in the Chinese dialect. On the contrary, it will turn into a necessary skill. If in the future coding skills will be required for work, and a new generation will possess them, you should take care not to be left overboard.
Career benefits : Chinese +0.5 points, JavaScript +1 point
Spiritual values
What could be more “spiritual” than knowing a language that is not suitable for communicating with 95% of compatriots, like knowing Chinese for a Westerner? Well, really!
As for JavaScript, learning a programming language will make you return to the most basic level of understanding available, for example, in your microwave. There is no social context, you just have to give absolutely correct instructions to make the machine do what you want to get from it.
To solve this problem, you need to think deeper than during normal communication, and therefore there is a training of logic, creativity, ability to solve problems, accuracy and planning skills. To summarize, using the words of Steve Jobs: "Everyone should learn how to program a computer, because it will show you how to think."
Spiritual values : Chinese +1 point, JavaScript +1 point
Fun
Imagine a scene. You fly to China for the weekend and stand in line for boarding. In front of you is a fair-haired couple with a small child in summer clothes. Stewards speak Chinese to each other. Suddenly the child answers them! In Chinese!!! Stewards, like most people in line, are shocked. The family and the staff of the plane begin to laugh, chat vividly about something, well, it’s clear that you don’t understand what. Will it hurt you? You will be VERY disappointed.
Fun: Chinese +2 points
Okay, we should not forget about the joy that JavaScript can give. You can create games, make websites, develop applications - in fact, give free rein to your creative nature. The process of creating code is often evaluated by programmers as a rest, almost immersion in a trance. Also, keep in mind that mastering the coding language - if you're at least 7 months old - will prove to be a much more fun process than learning Chinese.
Fun: JavaScript +1.5 points
A look into the future
What can you say about this: JavaScript is really the best programming language to learn?
What about Python, Ruby, or C?
Anyone who knows Dutch can easily learn German. A native Portuguese speaker can read Spanish. And programming languages make up their own language group. If you are familiar with the basic rules of grammar and concepts that are repeated in each code, for example, with loops or conditions, you can apply them in any programming language.
Final score:
- Chinese 4.5 points;
- JavaScript 5.5 points.
Conclusion: Learn JavaScript. Or even better: learn the basic concepts of programming languages.
PS We recommend another article on the topic - 8 steps to success from the most successful people .
The author of the translation is Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult .