Personal Investment: Language Studies

China’s enrollment figures in private English as a Second Language (ESL)courses and related test preparation programs continue their longstanding highgrowth rates.

As I wrote recently, enrollment by mainland Chinese students in USuniversities and secondary schools is also reaching new heights.

Despite some prominent observers in the U.S. and U.K. lamenting thedecline of these great countries and offering pessimistic views about thefuture, younger Chinese still correlate good English language ability withcareer success. This is sensible, practical, and smart.

An article in the Winter 2012 edition of the quarterly “City Journal”offers comparative profiles of the economic clout of the countries theydescribe as the “Anglosphere” (U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, andIreland) and those which comprise the “Sinosphere” (Greater China, includingTaiwan and the Hong Kong and Macau S.A.R.s).

The authors, Joel Kotkin and Shashi Parulekar, take the view that despitemany challenges, the Anglosphere is alive and well:

It’s

indisputable that the Anglosphere no longer enjoys the overwhelming global

dominance that it once had. What was once a globe-spanning empire is now best

understood as a union of language, culture, and shared values. Yet what

declinists overlook is that despite its current economic problems, the

Anglosphere’s fundamental assets — economic, political, demographic, and

cultural — are likely to drive its continued global leadership. The Anglosphere

future is brighter than commonly believed.

In economic terms, using purchasing power parity data, the Anglosphereremains by far the world’s largest economic bloc, representing more than 25% ofworld GDP.

The Sinosphere is a strong second, accounting for just more than 15%.India, by comparison, accounts for some 5.4% of world GDP.

The Anglosphere’s per capita GDP is more than 5 times that of theSinosphere, and 13 times that of India.

Although the Sinosphere has experienced explosive growth in the number ofcompanies large enough in revenue terms to make the FORTUNE Global 500 list, itstill has a long way to go in terms of having big global companies which are alsowidely admired for their innovation, their values, governance and managementstyle.

Due in part to educational and legal infrastructure (e.g. intellectualproperty protection), the Anglosphere is home to the vast majority of theworld’s software, biotech, and aerospace companies – industries where R & Dand innovation are crucial elements of success.

In countries lacking an adequate intellectual property rights protectionregime, for example, companies will not invest the huge sums required todevelop big new high-tech products. The current estimated average investment inR & D to develop a major new pharmaceutical product is in the range of US$1billion.

The article also states that some 40% of Europeans speak English versus19% who speak French; while pointing out that English has been formally orinformally embraced as an important language of business and science in manydeveloping countries, including India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria,Kenya and South Africa. Obviously this phenomenon is rooted in large part to alegacy of the colonial era, but English has survived the test of time forpractical reasons. That is unlikely to change any time soon.

One other factor which the authors cite as a positive force for relativeAnglosphere economic growth is demographics. Between 2000 and 2050, the USworkforce is projected to grow by 37%. During the same time frame, due toaging, China’s workforce is projected to shrink by 10%, and Japan’s by 40%.

Immigration trends are also a contributing factor, During the past tenyears, 14 million people immigrated legally to the Anglosphere. In 2005 alone,among the top ten countries around the world in terms of immigrant arrivals,the US accepted more new immigrants than the next nine countries combined.

The moral of the story is that for young people in China considering theircareer plans, good abilities in both English and Chinese language will beextremely valuable assets no matter which direction they want to go.

When I began studying Chinese in high school in the U.S. nearly 50 yearsago, most of my peers, their parents and many teachers reckoned it was acurious and exotic pursuit with little relevance to my career unless I chose anacademic or diplomatic career path.

During the next 50 years, regardless of which career track a young personpursues, there is no doubt about the fact that competence in English andChinese will be relevant, and beneficial. This is of course not only true ofcareer success in financial terms, but also in terms of personal developmentand enjoyment through enhanced access to two very different cultural worlds.

One

more word of advice to my younger friends: first and second language studies do

not end with graduation. That’s really where they begin. So, study hard, and be

prepared to keep it up for your whole lifetime. The time and effort invested

will produce some of the best dividends you can imagine.