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Learning Mandarin. Why Bother?

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

Great discussion going on over at the Linkedin China Law Blog group on whether it is worth the time to learn Mandarin. Click here to joint the discussion and click here to join the group. This question has already spurned 55 comments and a blog post, entitled, "Is It Worth Learning Mandarin Chinese?" To grossly summarize the comments, the overarching view is that learning Mandarin will be a plus for your career, but not a panacea. The value of learning Mandarin for your career will be greater if you are in China as opposed to outside China.There is a consensus that learning Mandarin (or any other language for that matter) is good for the mind/soul. Blogger Dan Feldman's short answer is "it depends," but his longer answer certainly leans towards yes. Below are the headings from Feldman's arguments and I urge you to read the entire post. -- Each person must determine his/her own cost-benefit ratio for learning a new language, such as Chinese. -- Fluency in Mandarin alone does not guarantee business success in China. -- Internationally, Chinese certainly carries less importance than English, as a language of business, international relations and diplomacy. -- Though language skills are not an essential component for doing business in China, they can be extremely useful. -- Even for the most fluent non-native Chinese speakers, it is often more efficient to delegate certain kinds of work, i.e. translations, to a native speaker. -- The US Government understands that you can't engage China effectively with managers who don't speak Mandarin.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on April 24, 2010 (boomark / email).