Why Learning Mandarin Chinese Can Boost Your Income

Often you hear that someone is learning either French, Spanish, German, or Portuguese. However, less so do you hear of someone studying Mandarin Chinese. But this isn’t to say it doesn’t happen –it’s just to say it doesn’t happen enough.

There’s a big mass of land out there, on the other side of world, and now might be a good time to get involved with it. Here’s why:

Mandarin has more native speakers than any other language in the world –yes, even English. There are nearly a billion Mandarin speakers. That’s a lot of potential business partners. Even more, those billion speakers make up the most populous country in the world: a country that has roughly 1.35 billion people spread across 9.6 million square kilometers, which is the second-largest country by land area.

I hope you’re noticing the pattern: China is at the top of quite a few lists. Yet, it doesn’t stop there.

China has the world’s second biggest economy, after the United States, and is the fastest growing economy with an average of 10% over the last 30 years. China’s GDP was almost $9 trillion in 2013, due it’s status as the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods in –believe it or not—the world. Doesn’t that sound like a pie you’d like a piece of?

More and more companies are doing business with this powerful market. So having the skills to communicate effectively will give you a big leg up on your competition.

Your hesitation is understandable: compared to learning other languages, Madarin Chinese seems daunting with all it’s symbols and phonetics. However, it’s not as bad as you’d think. Let me explain:

There are many things we use in English, and in other popular languages such as Spanish, that have no use in Mandarin. They don’t use tenses, there’s no past or future, rather it’s determined by small markers or context of conversation. The language is completely phonetic, you don’t have to worry about the different sounds made when two sets of letters meet, because they all sound the same throughout. Words are most often very short, two or three syllables. For us, refrigerator is five syllables, while in Mandarin it’s two. There are no articles: “a, an, the” are gone. There is no such thing as genders, anyone learning Spanish or German will sigh in relief, as Mandarin has no such obstacle.

It really isn’t as difficult as it appears when you see it or hear it, and you’ll never really know unless you give it a go. Giving it a chance and upping you level of this ever-growing language will not only give you a great sense of achievement, but your job opportunities will go through the roof. The economy is a powerhouse and tapping into this potential will do wonders for your work life. Convinced? Send an inquiry to see how you can get started. Already know some Mandarin? Try our Chinese Level Test and see how much farther you’d like to go.