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More Foreign Businessmen Speaking Chinese
The number of foreign businessmen who can speak Chinese has increased rapidly in recent years.
And it was quite an easy thing to find a foreigner who speaks fluent Chinese at the fourth China Fair for International Investment and Trade, which is being held in the port city of Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province.
Miss Zhang, who has attended the fair for three consecutive years, said that at the previous fairs, the earphones for foreigners to hear simultaneous interpretation often fell short of demand. However, she said, this year, many foreigners do not ask for the earphones at all.
"They want to hear the original edition of Chinese policies," joked Zhang.
Hong Jun Park, a representative from Hyundai of the Republic of Korea (ROK), is one of those foreign businessmen who did not ask for an earphone at the fair.
Hong first studied Chinese in ROK. He said in ROK, more than 5,000 students graduate from Chinese language departments each year.
Chinese is only second to English in popularity among foreign languages in ROK following the establishment of diplomatic relations between ROK and China in 1992.
He thought it is more convenient if one can speak the language of the country where he has businesses to do.
A representative from China General Electric Corp. said that GE has more than 7,000 employees in China, and they usually speak Chinese in the offices, adding "We attach great importance to the localization."
Juergen D. Lagleder, senior vice-president of Siemens Ltd., China, said that 50 percent of his company's foreign employees can speak Chinese.
He also wants to improve his Chinese speaking ability, and he encourages his employees to learn Chinese.
Commentators said that speaking Chinese does not necessarily imply that one can do good business in China. However, the fact that more and more foreign businessmen are starting to learn Chinese actually means that the Chinese market is attractive to them.
Experts said that China will remain one of the biggest markets in the world in the 21st century, since the country's economy has made a turn for the better and its accession into the World Trade Organization enters its final stage.
Official sources say that up to now, more than 20,000 foreigners have attended training courses to learn commercial Chinese.
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