Mandarin gives you access to half the world’s GDP production and almost a quarter of its population. Next to English its by far the most valuable language to learn.
At work we had a bunch of Chinese partners visit. I had to show them some things in person. One of them spoke decent English but the other absolutely none. I would explain something to the guy using diagrams and careful English and then they would just talk to each other in Chinese and I felt like a complete donut. Would have been amazing to know what they were saying.
Mandarin gives you access to half the world’s GDP production and almost a quarter of its population. Next to English its by far the most valuable language to learn.
To be fair they’ll sell you goods even if you don’t speak the language and they oftentimes won’t really want foreigners in their business.
The culture is a bit too xenophobic. Which doesn’t mean all Chinese people are or that it’s unique to China, but it’s definitely an issue.
The real reason to learn Mandarin is just in case they start playing the imperialism game once the US falls.
They already are.
At work we had a bunch of Chinese partners visit. I had to show them some things in person. One of them spoke decent English but the other absolutely none. I would explain something to the guy using diagrams and careful English and then they would just talk to each other in Chinese and I felt like a complete donut. Would have been amazing to know what they were saying.