These days everyone who has a knack for languages (or even those who don’t!) are being urged to learn ‘Chinese’. As amused as I am to hear people refer to a collection of at least 10 distinct and well-supported dialects as a single language, I can understand the sentiment – China is one of the fastest-growing economies and world powers, is modernizing at a breakneck pace, and is clearly where a lot of the action will be in coming years. Many of my friends with children ask me for my advice…