It offers foreign language education staples German, French and Italian, but it’s Mandarin Chinese that’s now the second most popular course, after Spanish, at Language Stars.

“Parents are recognizing that Mandarin is up-and-coming, and important in the global business market,” said Katy Mass, marketing director for Language Stars, a Hinsdale-based business that teaches foreign languages to young children. “And they want their children to have that advantage.”

The business started offering Mandarin about eight or nine years ago, she said, and added that other reasons, beyond forward looking career success, have also led parents to enroll their students in the eastern language.

“We … have a lot of families who had adopted children from China, and they’d like to have their children continue in their native language,” she said. “And then we have a lot of parents, or dads, who do business in China.”

The business hosted three free different story and game times in French, Spanish and Mandarin, respectively, at the Elmhurst Public Library last week.

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