Spanish or Mandarin?? - Part III
March 3rd, 2007
In Parts I and II of my Spanish versus Mandarin posts we had some great discussions and debate (click here and here). This is also a good follow up to Steve Feng’s recent post and kind offer to lead getting some of you together to learn some Mandarin.
I can’t seem to let a sleeping dog lie:
Per this Wall Street Journal article, “Mexico’s Case Study: Looking to China, and Away From It,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was asked by a Mexican MBA student at Tsinghua University (an elite school in China) while Paulson was recently visiting Beijing, “How will countries like Mexico, who are still emerging markets, compete with this monster that is China?” Paulson replied to the effect of, “See China’s growth as an opportunity.”
I.e., look for ways to do business and partner with these folks and no more whining about how China is kicking your butts.
Per this article, and as I alluded to in Parts One and Two of this discussion thread, think of the professional opportunities here for those students armed with a Cal Poly MBA who speak English (as you all do), Spanish (some do) and Mandarin (??). In my view, with some more hard work, continued networking, talent (see/refer to my earlier post on skills needed for successful expats in China) and yes, a little luck along the way, the world could be your oyster if you spoke or took some time off to learn to speak all three languages reasonably well.
Ah, if only I were in my 20s again …
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China, Misc.
3 Comments Add your own
1. China Law Blog | March 4th, 2007 at 7:43 am
I completely agree. I am encouraging my kids to become fluent in Spanish (this will teach them how to learn a language) and then move from there to Mandarin. Armed with Spanish, Chinese and English, one can just about cover all bases.
2. Ken Carroll | March 4th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I just spent 15 months working on putting a Mandarin program together (www.chinesepod.com) and now I’m busy preparing for the launch of a Spanish program - you can see the blog for that here
http://blogs.spanishsense.com/
One thing I can teel you for sure: It’s way easier for a native English speaker to learn Spanish than Chinese, so you need to think about your ROI on your time, as it were. Having said that, the Spanish speaking world is not going to challenge Mandarin in the next 15-20 years as an emerging market. I do agree, however, that it’s good to know English, Spanish, and Mandarin if you can find the time to do all three. (It was actually the diea of creating time-efficient ways to learn languages that led us to create both services.)
There’s also a lively blog over at ChinesePod -
http://blogs.chinesepod.com/
Ken Carroll
3. Kerry Huang | March 5th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
The WSJ article ties in well with the International Business and marketing classes. It is good to see that Mexican companies can still maneuver around China. However, I don’t see why a tortilla plant was built in Shanghai. Did the do their market research thoroughly??
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