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But how does this affect young professionals and students? Does this shift in global economic weight and political might mean anything for our future careers?
Of course. If one simply peeks at the United Kingdom’s largest course finder, HotCourses.com, it’s easy to see that the go-getters of the world are lining up for Mandarin, Hindi, Russian, and Portuguese lessons.
Take Daniel Slade, a recent London School of Economics graduate, who is currently undergoing a Mandarin course in anticipation for a position in China beginning after the New Year.
When asked, why he was interested in learning Mandarin he said it “is for practical and social reasons.”
“As BRIC economies grow, I think the importance and the appeal of learning their languages will also increase. People in the business world will have a massive advantage if they can communicate with their business partners from [BRIC countries] in their native language.”
Slade is attending evening classes at King’s College – and the classes are booked solid for the current term.
The same goes for other language courses in the UK and America. Diplomatic needs have also increased the popularity of Urdu, Pashto, Arabic, and Farsi, among others.
The interesting dynamic of this shift towards a more globalized world is that while English is rising in importance and pervasiveness, the need to be able to communicate in other languages is rising as well.
As English penetrates more parts of the world it’s almost like a fishhook for the native language of the respective region. Meaning one’s importance is linked to the other. As Slade says, “you should always be seen as making the effort.”
We shall see if fluency in Mandarin becomes as important to CEOs as an MBA, but until that day maybe we should all hedge our bets and crack open a book.
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