That’s right, Mark Zuckerberg – the 34 year old second only in wealth to the world’s richest man, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, learns Mandarin Chinese. Admittedly, he did have some very personal motivation initially – he’s married to Priscilla Chan the daughter of Chinese refugees, and he wanted to learn Chinese to be able to communicate better with her family. But there’s more than that to his story – as you would expect from such a successful entrepreneur.
Almost a quarter of internet usage is carried out in Chinese making it the second biggest language online after English. Internet penetration rates in China—a predominately rural country— reached 55.8% in 2017, more than the global average (51.7%). This means, of course, that there’s still plenty of room for even more massive growth in Mandarin internet usage. And of those Mandarin speakers, 29,680,000 are on Facebook – even though it’s officially banned in China. Apparently though, the government firewalls aren’t as sturdy as they might be.
Given all of this, Mandarin is an obvious language to learn particularly as it has the most speakers in the world, with estimates ranging from 12—14% of the global population. China’s economic growth, as the world’s largest exporter from 2010 and now the world’s second largest economy after the United States, has elevated demand for the Chinese language, one of the official languages of the UN. The next two decades will see demand growth from China’s growing middle class for luxury goods and services as well as a significant increase in international activity by China’s major companies. Mandarin is the emerging global business language of the future.
Be like Mark – learn Chinese! la Academia can arrange to provide Business Chinese classes at your premises in locations across the Northwest. For other locations, ask us about learning Business Chinese via the Internet – our Chinese teacher is beamed into your office for classes. Find out more here: https://www.laacademia.co.uk/business-and-individuals/chinese-classes/