Business Chinese Course

If you’re reading this, the chance is you’re probably already fluent in English – the most common language that is used across nations worldwide for both professional interaction and some leisure as well. However, that is anywhere but China, where Chinese is the main language.

While China has officially over taken the United States as the world’s largest economy in 2014, as a fast emerging country, there is not much English spoken throughout the country. In the 1970’s, China was a centrally planned closed economy, in the past few years, it has successfully transformed itself to a manufacturing and exporting hub. It is possible that people all around the world today can’t go a day without coming across a “Made in China” product.

What about now?

It is true that a lot of companies in the west and so still manufacture in China, China has also produced an impressive amount of millionaires along the way, in fact, in 2014, China had the second most millionaires in the world, second only to the United States. This means that it is now not only just an exporting and manufacturing hub, the surging wealth along with high population makes it a huge market for businesses that are looking to expand.

If you’re already living in Singapore, one of Asia’s busiest expats hub, you probably already know many other expats that have to travel to China for business quite frequently, if not yourself.

One of the most common challenges any expats or foreign businesses face is the language barrier. While the multinational companies might attract employees with excellent English skills, however, most of the small businesses and local businesses, along with the general population, speak little to none English, and they are, unfortunately usually the target market for foreign companies seeking business opportunities in China.

For the exact same reason, business Chinese course has been very popular in all around the world but especially in Asian expats hubs such like Singapore, Hong Kong, even Bangkok, and of course, Shanghai and Beijing. While the business Chinese course aims to overcome the language barrier, it also presents an opportunity to possibly improve your relationship with your Chinese business contacts. After all, culturally and traditionally, the Chinese are incredibly relationship focused.

Relationship focus?

And it would be pretty difficult to establish any relationship without being able to speak the language. Furthermore, for Chinese businessmen, sometimes the post work activities are just as important as the work done during office hours. You’ve probably seen or heard of Chinese businessmen enjoying a decent night out on the town when they’re overseas, understandably.

Taking your Chinese clients out for some proper wine and dine is a great chance for them to get to know you and further establish the trust and relationship. Why does it matter? Because in business, knowing what kind of person you’re working with is just as important as their competency.

What if I am not the socializing type by nature?

Aside from being able to further the relationship between you and your Chinese business contacts, taking up business Chinese course can also be beneficial to your career advancement, more and more businesses are expanding into China and/or trying to break into the China market, and having employees that speak the language is a crucial part of the plan. A quick search on the job openings can probably confirm that more and more employers are looking for talents with Chinese language skills. Even for the job openings that does not require Chinese skill but involves communications with Chinese companies or clients, and that is probably a lot of them; with proper business Chinese skill, this is a great chance to differentiate yourself from hundreds or even thousands applicants.

How do I make the first step?

There are a number of business Chinese courses offered in Singapore, the learners are usually a good mix of Singaporeans and foreigners, creating a diversified learning environment that is more encouraging for beginners, the likelihood of seeing a great number of Chinese businessmen or tourists around town can also serve as a great motivation for learning business Chinese in Singapore.

While you can certainly try the less conventional methods to learn business Chinese in Singapore given the chance, there is no denying that the most effective way to properly learn any business language is by taking a well-designed and planned course with experienced trainers/teachers.

There are a good number of Chinese language schools in town, it won’t hurt to reach out to a shortlist of them and understand their approach and evaluate their service before you commit to a course. And some  of them, for example, Chinese edge, even offers a free trial lesson for you to see what they’re offering and how they can help you reach your goals in Business Chinese learning.