China has a huge population; approximately 25% of the world population speaks Chinese. This number is huge compared to the number of native Spanish speakers (332,000,000) and English speakers (322,000,000) [Source: The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey 1999].
The US government admits that China is an important player, and has made considerable efforts to help introduce Chinese at public schools. The government has authorized $1.3 billion dollars in federal funding over five years for Chinese language instruction in American schools [Source: news release from Senator Joe Lieberman office: May 26, 2005]. The "Department of State has designated that Chinese is a 'critical language.' " [source: Newsweek article, May 2005]
For an MBA student, imagine the potential of accessing a vast sea of abundant, low cost talent. Just to give a glimpse, in 2004, China produced 700,000 engineers, compared to the 60,000 engineers produced the US. Outsourcing is very real, and more companies are outsourcing manufacturing, IT, customer support, and other business functions. Being able to negotiate and understand without a clumsy translator not only furthers the business relationship, decreases chances of costly miscommunication.
Because of the recent tilt towards free market economies, rapid growth, and increasing numbers of skilled workers, China requires people that understand the best practices in their new free economy. Many of these new positions will be filled by MBA graduates from Chinese speaking US and European institutions, well versed in finance, management, and marketing.
Learning Chinese can be very difficult. The written system for Chinese is ideographic, or based strongly on symbols and characters, rather than some sort of alphabet. The language itself is one of the top four most time-intensive languages to learn [source: Foreign Service Institute]. The process of speaking and reading Chinese actually uses different parts of your brain.
I found that Rocket Chinese was a great way to pick up a basic vocabulary for conversation with my Chinese friends. It has a 6 part free course, so you can try it out first. I may be reviewing other "Learn Chinese" products as the days go by.
Click Here: Rocket Chinese 6 part FREE course Learn more about why Rocket Chinese is in fact the most effective way that will keep you engaged and interested while learning Mandarin Chinese instead of bored and frustrated.
So for now, 再见!
