Sometimes people ask me whether learning Chinese will increase the chances for employment. My answer: while there are exceptions, in most cases learning a new language hardly increases your chances of employment.
I admit that this is nothing more than just an opinion, and one that I can prove isn’t true in all cases. Being Dutch, I could never have landed a job in Singapore if my English weren’t up to standard. And there are jobs where speaking Mandarin or Japanese are required in order to even be considered.
But here’s the catch: unless your proficiency in the required language is near-native, you will be considered a non-speaker. Imagine the job you are applying for involves selling in China. Who is going to trust a salesperson that has the language proficiency of a primary school kid? Sending someone with low or intermediate language proficiency to a country to do business reflects poorly on the company.
So if you know zero Mandarin at this time, and believe that taking up mandarin classes for a couple of months is going to help your employability, you will be disappointed. If you start at zero, be prepared to take your time to learn the language till fluency. Or learn for the love of language and keep working at it, for example in evening classes, for several years.
Of course there are other scenarios possible. You could be a Singaporean who has learnt Mandarin until O’levels, speaks mostly Mandarin at home, but is just a bit lacking in specific business vocabulary. Words like ‘profit’, ‘interest’ or ‘ratio’ may not come naturally to you. You might already be considered for jobs that require some interaction with China, but for jobs where China is the main focus, your Chinese may not be up to scratch.
In this scenario, a couple of months of effort can really benefit your employability. Beef up your language level and all of a sudden you would be a credible candidate for China-focused jobs. The BCT test is meant exactly to measure and certify your level of Mandarin if you already speak it quite well.
If you’re a beginner, it sure won’t do harm to your career to learn Mandarin. Having that language study on your resume shows a great learning attitude. Just don’t expect it to do wonders during your application unless you’ve become 100% fluent. Whatever your starting level, we have a Mandarin course for you.
