Don’t stay in China for the sake of staying in China

Recently I’ve thought a lot why I actually learn Chinese. I’ve talked about reasons to learn Chinese previously. I also like to spend some years in China. The whole thing sounds very nice. Learn Chinese, stay in China. But is it useful? Is it worth it? Staying in China just for the sake of staying in China? I do like Chinese food and Chinese women.

But let’s face it, if there is no money in the pocket then there is not much else. I do learn Chinese mostly for personal pleasure and because so far I’ve though it is useful for a future job. Is it really that useful? Can Chinese help me earn money? I do need to take care about earning money. How about You? Why do You learn Chinese (or any other language)?

My parents told me: First work, then fun!

My parents are right about this. Fun is fun, but if there is no money, then there is no fun. Hence I have to work to earn money to go to the bling bling Disney World Park at the weekend. Why am I actually writing this? With this article I want to assess the value of learning Chinese and Staying in China from a career point of view.

Pros & Cons of learning Chinese language

Let’s look at the language first. Learning Chinese properly is a time consuming monster task. Yet it opens opportunities, doesn’t it?

Chinese is spoken in rural China at the same time the more advanced parts of China most often already understand English. It is true that the English abilities of the countryside people is equal to some incomprehensible gibberish, however here in Hong Kong most of the people that work in a professional environment have a serious skill of English. Also the English of professionals in Shanghai or Beijing should be pretty high level as well.

That being said, we have the chance to draw a first conclusion: When You work in a field that spans all over China a good skill of Mandarin must be pretty useful. I’m thinking about the logistics industry especially. Also some Franchise type business probably requires Mandarin Chinese as a skill. On the opposite if You are working in a architecture company which constructs steel and glass office towers in Shanghai English alone should be fine.

• The worth of speaking Chinese depends on Your job

This puts the Chinese learner in a situation with certain limits for a number of reasons. Taking a job that only uses some of the skills one has learned will not result in a millionaire salary. If someone decides to spend thousands of hours in learning some skill and then just forgets about it then it is as inefficient as heating a room in the icy winter while the main window is wide open. So the Chinese learner wants to make use of his skill and will focus his job search on jobs that require Chinese. However that is the learners main problem.

The number of jobs for Western people requiring Mandarin is limited. At the same time more and more people decide to learn this difficult language. Recently several secondary schools in the US have introduced Mandarin as a foreign language. In a few years these kids will flood the market and Chinese as a skill becomes even less valuable. We can only hope that Chinese is used more often in business to increase demand again. Otherwise the situation will be like this: Mandarin is required as a compulsory skill to be eligible for the job at all, however Mandarin as a skill doesn’t increase the salary anymore because everyone speaks it.

• Language is a tool

Having dived into the problems of Mandarin losing value as a skill, I want to go into a even more severe problem. When a car mechanic repairs a car, he might use a hammer and a screw driver. Hammer and screw driver are much cheaper than the mechanic himself, these two items are tools. The skill that makes the car work again is the knowledge about car-repairing. The tools just let’s him execute his skill.

What people often don’t see, language has a similar value. A business man might go from the US to China to make a car deal. Now what he really needs there is his skill of negotiating, analysing the value of the race cars he wants to buy etc. To execute these skills he uses Mandarin. Mandarin is the tool that let’s him execute his skill.

Language is a tool for other skills. The only thing that makes language valuable is that not everyone can speak it while everyone can by hammer and screw driver. Yet many people can speak several languages. I especially want to point this out to people who study sinology. You are becoming a tool! Get an extra real skill to use Mandarin as a tool. Don’t let a tool be Your only skill. Learn a language as a side skill, but don’t let the language be the dominating skill.

Finally something positive

Okay let’s find something positive about learning to speak, read and understand Mandarin Chinese. A foreign language is definitely a plus on any CV, yet it is more worth in companies which do business with China. Also Chinese helps the learner on a personal level. Chinese grammar can be really mind bending sometimes. Although it takes time and tinkering sometimes to take apart some Chinese sentence, solving the mysterious of a Chinese sentence makes me feel quite satisfied. Employers will be happy to have people on their team who are able to spend time on working out things without giving up. Look out for such jobs

Don’t stay in China for the sake of staying in China

Some people stay in China because they like it. That’s fair. But some people stay there because they think they have a great future there and end up as a English teacher. They might have been there as an English teacher for several years. And they probably will be teaching forever because they can’t afford the ticket out any longer.

Clearly ask: “What’s in for me?” If You want to stay in China clearly ask Yourself how this stay will improve Your CV, salary and position in Your company. Salaries in China are still crappy and special foreigner packages are becoming rare. Staying for a short while in China can be an invaluable experience. Staying there for years without a real job can be a long term pain.

Conclusion

Today’s conclusion is short. Chinese is a nice language, China a nice country. But don’t build Your world on it. Use Chinese as a skill to improve, but don’t be dependant on it. Use Chinese as a tools but don’t let it be Your only skill. Then Chinese can compliment some other skill and You get a serious salary. Happy Chinese learning! Be clear about what You do.

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