Moneywise24 Personal Finance

China alone has more than 1 billion inhabitants. Worldwide there are more than 800 million native Mandarin Chinese speakers. With the Chinese economy booming, is Chinese on its way to becoming the dominant global language?

The question is very legitimate, since the Chinese economy is outperforming, and an increasing number of companies are starting doing business with China. In addition, Chinese products are flooding the world markets, and the world is becoming smaller and smaller in a sense. In common business situations, language is still a barrier, and many occasions require a translator to be present.

English has mainly become the dominant global language due to the widespread presence of the British during history. The participation of the United States during WorldWar I and II. As such, English has become increasingly popular as well as important. Additionally, both Great Britain and the United States take very important position in the global economy. Looking at this history, however, the popularity and acceptance of English as a dominant global language has grown slowly over time.

Chinese could well be on its way to become a more important language in business life. In fact, the popularity of Chinese, as well as other language contributing to the global economy, is increasing. However, the language itself poses also some important limits in the way it can be used. Probably the most important limits are the use of characters and the number of limited sounds available. As soon as foreign companies become active in China, they will often have to change their name completely, in order for the company name to be written in Chinese. The same applies to names of people. In addition, schools, colleges and universities will need to adopt Chinese as an integral part of their educational program. This is a very big step, since Europeans and Americans will have a great difficulty learning the language as it belongs to a totally different language family. And still, for this to happen, the Chinese economy itself will also need to take the dominant position in the global economy.

Although it is unlikely for us to (still) experience Chinese being the dominant global language, the Chinese language is gaining importance and popularity in general; there are still many people worldwide, some of them very educated or in high positions within large corporations, who do not speak English adequately. Speaking Chinese might indeed prove to be an important asset, increasing one’s value on the emloyment markets.

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As I surfed the internet last week, I came across an interesting article on Wikipedia about academic inflation. It is a phenomenon that we could have observed over the last 10 years, but for which I had no way to call it by name; academic inflation is an inflation process of minimum requirements as a result of too many college education individuals compete over too few jobs requiring these qualifications. As a result, minimum qualifications for the same jobs are increased, requiring a higher form of education in order to obtain the job.

I remember, when I started my education in 1998, that having a bachelor’s degree was really good, and a prerequisite in order to acquire a job in a business environment, whereas an academic university’s degree was only required for some specific types of business jobs (e.g. business consulting, Mergers & Acquisitions), which required skills not taught during a bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, university education had always been an important pre-requisite for the academic type of career.  In some cases, a bachelor’s degree would even allow graduates to take part in traineeship programmes, allowing them to take upon a lower management level job within 1 or 2 years of graduation.

I finished education in 2003, and the tide has turned. Half of the vacancies, which focussed on the type of work I had studied for, already required a university degree, or Masters degree. Those vacancies, which required bachelor’s degrees, I found were quite below my capabilities, and typically involved much administrative work.

Academic inflation will probably not come to a halt, since more and more people can afford to go to college and even university. Today there are large streams of young professionals pursuing an MBA, in order to be able to advance their career faster. Language skills will also become increasingly important. I recognised that in order to keep my current job, advance my career, and remain competitive in general, I will need to become pro-active, in every way I can, during my entire life.

Continuous academic advancement

Academic inflation does not only take place at a bachelor’s level. More and more individuals are attending university, and MBAs are increasingly becoming popular. Therefore, each individual will need to advance his academic graduation to the maximum possible. For people having full-time jobs, there are many part-time programmes to take part in. The more well-known universities may offer these programmes at a high price, but there are many other universities, which are not priced that expensively and which are still accredited. After a Bachelor’s degree, one could pursue his Master’s degree, an MBA, a doctorate or PhD.

Continuing Professional Education

Apart from the classical academic path of education, many organisations offer certificates that demonstrate a specific skill in a certain area or expertise. This can be the Organisation of Certified Accountants, or the Association of Proposal Management Professionals. Obtaining such a certificate from a recognised professional organisation is not an academic degree, but does demonstrate experience and expertise. These last two traits are at least as important as an academic grade.

Languages

Companies are increasingly becoming more and more international, if they are not so already. Additionally, nations are emerging. Think about China for a moment; there are more Chinese speaking people around the world than there are English speaking people. Nothing speaks against such languages gaining importance in the future. As a measurement, I have already taken upon a Chinese course, and I intend taking a Japanese and an Arabic course in future.

Gaining experience in different fields

As a measurement to stay competitive, I have decided to make different experiences with different companies in different roles. This keeps my mind sharp, and I see how different organisations and departments within corporations function. If you have worked all your life as a salesperson, might be very difficult to get into marketing or finance at some point.

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