Why Is Learning The Chinese Language Important For Business?
Today, China is the world’s second-largest economy. Considering the speed it has grown and how much the country’s economy will continue to grow, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it becomes the biggest player in the world economy one day.
Home to many of the world’s largest and most prominent companies, as well as a billion-strong market, penetrating Chinese has become extremely important for doing business in today’s economy.
International companies and many up-and-coming organizations are investing in employees that take up a Mandarin course in Singapore. Why? Because, if their employees have the necessary language skills, they have an edge in negotiating contracts with Chinese companies and in China itself.
Learning Chinese for business also yields many benefits, including:
1. The ability to compete in the global economy
As mentioned earlier, China’s market is a billion strong.
Home to nearly 1.4 billion citizens, China’s population is enough to be the reason to penetrate its local market. The only way to do so is to understand their culture, customs, and most important of all, their language.
Whether it’s to strike partnerships with Chinese business or market and sell in China, learning Chinese helps give you (and your company) the ability to compete in the global economy.
2. Access to advanced technology
Enrolling in a Mandarin course in Singapore will help you learn the necessary language skills to form partnerships with Chinese firms. At the very least, you can find yourself a supplier with the required advanced technology that meets your business’ needs for a fraction of the cost of working with other international companies.
Remember, partnerships can only be formed through proper communication.
If you don’t know Chinese, then how do you expect to find the right partners in the Chinese market, let alone know how to reach out?
3. A better understanding of trading ideas
Learning Chinese isn’t just beneficial for the Chinese market; it’s also useful for international business as a whole.
China is a significant player in the world economy. Thus interactions with the Chinese community online will help you gain a better understanding of the current trends. This allows you to obtain more relevant trading skills that will let you (and your company) the most profit with the least associated risk.
4. Increased chances of partnering with leading Chinese companies
Chinese patronize their own language. They may make use of translators when conducting business with international businesses, but they’d prefer not to. Unless you’re big enough of a company that they’d be happy to make a few concessions if it means landing your business.
If you’re just starting out, learning Chinese and being able to speak it fluently could make a difference between striking partnerships with local Chinese firms and striking out.
If your representative company is big enough for potential Chinese partners to compromise, you still owe it to both parties to try and learn the Chinese language. When working with translators, crucial terms may not be translated well, and meanings could be distorted. This will result in a communication breakdown which could lead to a significant deal falling through.
Doing business in today’s global economy requires fluent knowledge in how the biggest countries operate, and China is one of the most prominent players of them all.
Learning more about their culture, how they work and operate, as well as their language will give you better insights on how to interact with them in a potential meeting. Taking the time to learn their language will make them respect you and your business more, and greatly increases the chances of your business tapping into the invaluable resource-pool of China!