i can speak chinese,and i would speak chinese, because i am a chinese!

I would feel more motivated in there were more diverse opinions and general knowledge in China. This is improving all the time, but has a long way to go. I also think it's strange not to use an alphabet. Why be so proud of this backwards writing system?

Yes, I am learning Mandarin (very slowly) because I would like to chat with people in China. I dream of travelling across Asia and one of the countries I would love to see is China. I believe that speaking only English will limit where I can go, I want to meet real people and have a great conversation. In the UK I work in a University with many international students, some of them are Chinese so it would be nice to be able to personally help them with their studies and, more importantly, become friends also.