Chinese Etymology

Mastering Chinese Written Language in 90 days

There is a joke: What does bilingual mean? It is the ability of speaking two languages with equal skill. How about trilingual? the ability of speaking three languages. How about unilingual? It means an American.

However, unilingual means lossing out in the global competition today, not as a joke but a reality, that is, getting multilingual or facing decline.

With China rising, Chinese language is, now, named as a strategic foreign language for our national security. It takes about 5 (five) years (from 1st to 5th grade) for native Chinese children to gain the ability to read Chinese newspaper. It takes 6 to 8 years of high school classes (such as AP Chinese) and / or university Chinese courses for an American to reach the above-said ability. Worst yet, in America, 85% of Americans will drop out in one year after diving in to learn Chinese language with enthusiasm. Chinese Written Language is simply too difficult to learn even for the native Chinese, and it was simplified 50 years (in 1958) ago. However, there is still 15% illiteracy in China today.

This Spring (from April 3 to June 17), Jason Tyler Gong showed the world openly (under public eyes, 5 Chinese newspapers and 6 Chinese TV stations) that Chinese written language can be mastered in 89 days from an initial state of knowing not a single Chinese character to a state of being able to read Chinese newspaper and passed the examinations from a dozen Chinese news reporters.

On June 17, 2008, Jason's work was released to the public for review and challenge. The Executive Yuan (Premier's office) of Taiwan issued a directive (on July 7, 2008) to the Ministry of Education of Taiwan to review Jason's work and claims. The following is the copy of that directive.

When Chinese written language can be mastered in 89 days, You (either native Chinese or American) are wrong to yourself if it takes you 5 to 8 years to reach Jason's level. If you are a teacher teaching Chinese written language, you are wrong to your students as you are wasting their youthful life.

The World Record of mastering Chinese Written Languages in 89 days by Jason Tyler Gong
Henry Miles Gong's (younger brother of Jason Gong, born in Virginia in 1986) challenge to the world:
- The Chinese written language can be mastered (to an ability of reading Chinese newspapers) in 80 days by any committed American high school student, and no language environment is needed.
- He (Henry himself) will take up the challenge from the world:
  - To examine his initial condition
  - To examine his studying procedure to reach the above-said proficiency in 60 days.

More letters from the Commissioner of State Education Department, Virginia, Idaho, and so on...

More letters from the presidents of American universities, Harvard, and so on.

The details of Henry's announcement