3 languages to travel

Guest   Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:49 am GMT
...reflect my opinions...but, my opinions are based on 30 years of (big) business experience, most of which has been international in scope. By the way, before I went into business, I dabbled professionally in language.



To cut to the chase...English is and will remain the language of international business for the immediate future. I think that will hold true for your lifetime, assuming you are a student today.



When I was a little boy, the international language was French. After a couple decades, that has solidly shifted to English. Will English ever be supplanted? I am certain it will. Will it happen during your career? I doubt it.



My recommendation is that if you are interested in a language, culture or country, study that language. It will expand your world view immensely and bring you joy. But, if you are only studying the language for business purposes, spend your time on something else--like mastering partial differential equations so Black-Scholes is second nature to you.



I have a love of language and languages. If you are truly fluent in the local language, it can be of help to you. My business dealings took me to numerous countries on 5 continents. There is no way I could have learned them all. For business, English sufficed, at times with professional interpreters. Current English speakers are in luck.



As for Mandarin Chinese, unless you are already a speaker of (another dialect of) Chinese, it will require an extended, intensive language training experience. If you live in Beijing, it will of course be quicker. But, if you are a native English speaker and you study it in the US intensively, I estimate it will take 2-3 years before you are able to function in Mandarin--and longer before you trust yourself in any business dealings with Chinese. By the way, when you master Mandarin after many years of intensive study, I hope for your sake your business deal isn't in Guangzhou... :)



All joking aside, I have encountered many Chinese in business--from the 1980s after Nixon opened up the doors until today. Initially, English language skills were poor. During the Cultural Revolution, English was not taught. If they were in school during the 1960s and 1970s, they probably don't speak English. If they grew up later, they had the opportunity to learn English. Today, Chinese universities are churning out a large number of students who are fluent or close to fluent in English. I see little value in competing with this unless your public school system was teaching you Mandarin from elementary school (which some are in the US).



If you consult sources on the most spoken languages, you will find the following are the top languages in the world:

1.873 million - Mandarin Chinese
2.322 million - Spanish
3.309 million - English
4.206 million - (Standard?) Arabic
5.181 million - Standard Hindi
I wouldn't bet my paycheck on the accuracy of these numbers; but they are probably within the ballpark.



We have already discussed Chinese and English. Virtually all people involved in international business in India speak English--addressing Hindi. Arabic has multiple dialects; but, they are much closer to each other than Chinese dialects which are often separate languages. At the rate our foreign policy is going, it will take at least another generation until Americans will feel safe doing business in the Arab world, unless you like operating with heavy security around you. That leaves Spanish. Spanish makes sense to learn. But, there are also many bilingual speakers out there already.



So, use your interest in languages to balance out the quant in you. Good luck in your travels!

Sources: professional experience in linguistics (3 yrs); international business experience (30 yrs);