University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Faculty Publications Law School 2007 Mandarin Chinese: An Annotated Bibliography of Self-Study Materials Duncan E. Alford University of South Carolina - Columbia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/law_facpub Part of the Legal Profession Commons, Legal Writing and Research Commons, and the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Duncan E. Alford, Mandarin Chinese: An Annotated Bibliography of Self-Study Materials, 35 Int'l J. Legal Info. 537 (2007) This Article is brought to you by the Law School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Mandarin Chinese: An Annotated Bibliography of Self- Study Materials DUNCAN E. ALFORD The People's Republic of China is currently the seventh largest economy in the world and is projected to be the largest economy by 2050. Commensurate with its growing economic power, the PRC is using its political power more frequently on the world stage. As a result of these changes, interest in China and its legal system is growing among attorneys and academics. International law librarians similarly are seeing more researchers interested in China, its laws and economy. The principal language of China, Mandarin Chinese, is considered a difficult language to learn. The Foreign Service Institute has rated Mandarin as "exceptionally difficult for English speakers to learn." Busy professionals such as law librarians find it very difficult to learn additional languages despite their usefulness in their careers.