Learn Mandarin – three Reasons Why

There are three solid reasons that underpin the benefits of learning Chinese for your career. When we are speaking of Chinese we are more specifically discussing Standard Mandarin, the lingua franca of The Middle Kingdom. China is the world’s largest sovereign nation state in one very important way. With 1.2 billion people, it accounts for roughly one-fifth of mankind – almost twice the size of the combined populations of The United States of America and The European Union. In this way China is not really a country but a large continent in its own right.

The first reason that learning Chinese is a wise career path has been brewing over the last 20 years. During this time the myriads of China has been lifted out of poverty. This process is by far the greatest creation of wealth and productive capacity in the history of our species. It begun with the market reforms that was enacted after the great helmsman’s passing but did not take off until the 1990’s when much broader institutional freedoms were introduced. The opening of a stock market in Shanghai, successful pilot areas such as Shenzhen, entry into the The World Trade Organization and freer capital flows paved the way for a massive and sustained investment flow from abroad that has lasted until today and will continue in the future. The combination of western capital, know-how and technology with Chinese surplus labor represents one of the greatest achievements of our kind. An empire was built overnight in the scope of world history.

This of course has enabled China in many ways. The first of these is our second solid reason why studying Chinese is a strategic choice for the future. China is a world power. The Middle Kingdom has stood up and taken a place as a member of the G2. Its far-reaching diplomatic strength has changed relationships across the globe. To satiate the hunger for raw materials created by its explosive growth China has successfully laid claim to last developing sector of the world Africa, with considerable success. The first ever Master of Business Administration in a Africa is sponsored by China – a fact that illustrates a wide net of influence that is currently being placed on the continent. Massive Chinese investment has reached places where western donors are unable to go, for political reason, and in return China is absorbing an ever-larger share of global commodities markets.

The third reason that mandarin studies are a prudent investment in you future builds on the first two reasons. The cultural global importance of China has greatly benefited from the rise of China as an economic power and as a diplomatic force. When I read a newspaper today invariable a reference to China in the world and business section. China has become a household topic. The Middle Kingdom is greatly helped in this way by Hollywood, which has not ignored the way that China fared in the current turbulent economic seas. China is increasingly portrayed as force to reckoned with. Since its successful execution of the Olympic Games in 2008 China has captured the lime light of the global arena. In 2009 the disaster movie 2011 was released. Here China actually, physically, saves the world. It is no longer The United States of America’s high tech Navy’s Raptors that shoots down alien invaders, it is China’s manufacturing prowess that saves humanity. The most important aspect of the American ability to wage war anywhere in the world is its unrivaled air force and navy, that it is no longer Will Smith that smokes the cigar with a flight jacket on is indicative of a future that looks very different from the one that we imagined only 10 years ago. In 2010 Wall Street Money Never Sleeps was released. Here a Wall Street hot shot actually speaks Mandarin.

For me that is the greatest cultural shift of 2010 – it is a popular recognition of Chinas rise to power and its ability to, at an increasing rate, to dominate tomorrow. The White House will, within 50 years, be overtaken by Zhong Nan Hai, a name that you have probably not heard, but that you will soon hear of often. As China overtakes the west, Mandarin will become a fantastic skill.