Claster was drawn to Chinese after she saw her professor, the late John D Langlois, write Chinese characters on the blackboard. Today, more and more American students are convinced that speaking a foreign language will increase their career opportunities.

In November 2009, US President Barack Obama announced an initiative to send some 100,000 American students to China to study Chinese language and culture in the next four years. Under this initiative, George Mason University in Virginia alone will help more than 120 students to travel in China under various study and exchange programs this summer.

Obama's initiative has also opened up opportunities for minority American students to study in China. Howard University in Washington started to send business students to China last year. Its Chinese language program, which had only 10 students a few years ago, has grown to more than 40.

Despite this enthusiasm, it remains to be seen whether Americans will actually learn Chinese. Chinese is not an easy language to learn, particularly for older students; it is said to be four times as difficult as a Romance language for an American to master.

A more important question is whether Americans will actually learn to understand China. As James H Wyche, provost and chief academic officer of Howard University remarked, it takes time to learn the history, the culture, and the nuances of Chinese civilization.

A cell biologist, Wyche has been working with colleagues in China for about 10 years. He has seen great changes in China, and has developed an acute sense of the differences that exist between the various regions of China.

While many Americans have visited China in the past few decades, it must be said that Wyche is more the exception than the rule. For example, Henry Kissinger has been to China more than 50 times and still does not speak Chinese.

The author is assistant editor-in-chief of China Daily and its chief US correspondent. E-mail: [email protected]

(China Daily 06/24/2011 page8)