As the Asia Pacific Senior Director in an international high-tech company, 50-year-old Jurriaan Meyer from the Netherlands, is fluent in Dutch, German and English, and speaks some Norwegian and French. But he has also been learning Chinese.

Every Thursday morning, no matter how busy he is, he takes time out of his schedule for a 90-minute Chinese class with a private tutor at his office. Though he has been learning Chinese for 10 years, he now still learns new vocabulary and how to improve his pronunciation through conversational practice.

"Senior executives working in or working with China will benefit from having a certain grasp of Chinese because it will give them invaluable insight into Chinese culture and thinking, and shows their Chinese counterparts that they are committed to China. It will help build trusted relationships, which is very important to do business in China," said Meyer, who works and lives in Beijing. 

Recently, a decision by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to give a public speech in Chinese at the Tsinghua University sparked discussion on the Internet. Some Net users said that Zuckerberg spoke in Chinese to create a good impression on the youth, and in so doing, pave the way for developing his market in China.

Like Zuckerberg, many senior foreign executives are acknowledging the importance of learning Chinese, especially if they are to have the edge in their business dealings with the world's second largest economy.

Peter Edwards takes Chinese classes at Beijing Zhixue Mandarin Center in Dongcheng district. Photo: Li Hao/GT

A business necessity

Meyer began learning Chinese when he started working in Hong Kong in 2005. During the summer, he would come to Beijing to attend language summer camps to immerse himself in the Chinese language. He still attends private classes at least once a week to further improve his language skills, although he has acquired a Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) Level V certificate, which is an advanced level of Chinese. 

"I made up my mind to continue my career in China when I worked in Hong Kong. Learning Chinese would be a great benefit to my work."

He spends at least half of each day speaking Chinese. Being capable of discussing many things with business partners in Chinese, Meyer thinks it creates a better business climate.

"Communication is more efficient and fun. Usually they are quite impressed and that really helps doing business and gaining trust."

Meyer said that he is still learning Chinese after all these years because he wants to further improve his language skills and he believes that a good understanding of Chinese is the gateway to understanding China's culture and history.

"It is showing that you want to integrate and communicate with the people on a more intense and personal level," he said.

Through learning Chinese, Meyer gradually got to know the differences of how Chinese and Western businessmen think. This insight, he said, has created more opportunities for him to establish the personal relationships needed to do business in China.

Understanding the nuances of the Chinese language allows Meyer to connect with Chinese business people on a level that remains elusive to other foreign businessmen. Assuming that the Chinese express matters as straightforward as foreigners do, can lead to missed opportunities, he said. "An evasive answer doesn't necessarily mean a refusal, and a nod to a contract does not imply the agreement is a fully done deal."

More and more foreign executives are starting to learn Chinese to give them the edge in their business dealings and career development. Photo: Li Hao/GT

A plus for young executives  

Most mornings from 6:30 to 8:00 on weekdays, the 29-year-old Briton, Peter Edwards, attends the Beijing Zhixue Mandarin Center, a Chinese language school near his home in Dongcheng district. There he takes a private Chinese class.

"I am probably the earliest person to take a Chinese class [in the city]," said Edwards, who's the General Manager of China Carbon Forum, an NGO that focuses on projects related to China's climate change action. Because he is so busy, Edwards said that this is the only time he can make to learn the language.

Except for taking one-on-one classes three times a week, he also has to do the homework, such as finding a Chinese friend or colleague to practice what he has learned and preparing for the next class.

Edwards came to Beijing in 2012 to work at the British Embassy. In that year, he spent three months living in Kunming, Yunnan Province to learn Chinese at a private school.

"This intensive program was very helpful to get me focused on language learning rather than being distracted by many expat social groups and activities," he said.

Edwards believes learning Chinese is more urgent and important for the new generation of professionals.

If executives over 40 or 50 do not know Chinese, they still have expertise, years of experience and a wide network, which will keep them in their position or allow them to climb higher, but for young professionals who want to pursue long-term development in China, being proficient in Chinese can help them gain a big edge in their career development, he said.

"Young professionals now work in much more competitive environment - for example, many young native Chinese have returned from studying abroad and can speak fluent English, so they tend to be very strong job candidates." 

A new lingua franca?

Wang Li, CEO of Beijing Zhixue Education and Consulting Company  has also noticed a trend in recent years of an increasing number of foreign executives wanting to learn Chinese due to China's growing economy and its global influence.

"Since 2010, there has been an upward trend in foreign executives learning Chinese, which is very evident particularly from 2010 to 2013 when there was steady growth," said Wang.

Wang said that some executives from big multinational companies did not learn Chinese during the first years when they came to Beijing but only started taking Chinese lessons in recent years. Some foreign executives travel specially from Hong Kong to Beijing for intensive classes over several months.

English is and will continue to be the lingua franca in the global business world, but the upward trend of foreign executives learning Chinese highlights the importance of the Chinese market and culture globally, according to Meyer.

"I think to really conduct business in Chinese is a privilege granted to a few of executives like me who have almost native speaker proficiency. For those who are at a basic or intermediate level, it will give them great insights into Chinese culture and the psyche of its people," said Meyer.

He also pointed out that for executives who are sent to China by their headquarters and who will spend several years in China, they are unlikely to reach a level of proficiency that can be used in their daily work in a short period of time.

"Chinese is not a language that can be learned in a year. It needs to be absorbed through some sort of osmotic process. The language has too many idiosyncrasies such as fluid grammar, proverbs and regional differences to be absorbed quickly," he said.

Shannon Fagan, CEO of a consulting company based in Beijing, told Metropolitan that the advantages of learning Chinese are reflected in long-term business operations between foreign and Chinese companies.

"I would never advocate learning the language over learning the business. With these in hand, knowing the language is a complimentary set of helpful operational mechanisms to have," he said.

Meyer said he doesn't think Chinese will become another new lingua franca in the international business world because it is so difficult to learn and more and more young Chinese executives are embracing English. However, there will always be situations where it is more effective to converse in Chinese, he said.

"This is becoming more important now as China's domestic market and consumption becomes increasingly important. We all need to adapt to a new China, a China of the Chinese consumer," he added.