Studying Chinese Opened Doors for Me and Here’s What It Can Do for You

So, why bother learning Mandarin Chinese?

That’s a question I asked myself approximately 5 years ago now.

At the time I was living in China and honestly, I just wanted an easier time navigating daily life and not being scared to go into local restaurants!

What I didn’t expect was how learning Mandarin would impact almost every aspect of my life.

Over time, the benefits I gained from studying Mandarin went far beyond just being able to speak another language.

it improved my cultural knowledge, friendships, culinary experiences and even work opportunities!

Even if you never step foot into a Chinese-speaking country, learning Mandarin has a surprising number of benefits.

In this article, I’ll go into those perks and take a look at some real-world examples of how learning Chinese can help you get ahead.

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || The World’s #1 Language

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || Many Doors Open Up

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || Understand a Deep and Historic Culture

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || It’s Not THAT Hard

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || Discover Incredible Cuisines

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || Knowing Chinese in China

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || Knowing Chinese Outside of China

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || Brain Training

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || FAQs

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || The World’s #1 Language

With a whopping 1.4 billion people, China is the world’s most populated country. With Mandarin-speaking communities also spread out across the globe from Singapore to Canada, it’s no surprise that Mandarin is the world’s number 1 most spoken language.

Therefore, if you reach proficiency in Mandarin and already speak English the world is your oyster.

📍 I’ve personally been able to practice my Mandarin in London, New York and Singapore!

That includes when some of my Chinese friends came to visit or study in the UK. Trust me, it’s more fun complaining about how crazily expensive British bubble tea is in Mandarin!

There are Mandarin speakers everywhere and in my experience, they’re always up for helping you Play 联系一下 (liánxì yīxià- practice).

One thing to note – many overseas Chinese communities speak Cantonese to each other instead of Mandarin, so remember this and don’t just panic like I did and assume your Chinese is terrible when you explore Chinatown!

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || Doors Open

When one door closes, another door opens.

Except, with language learning, no doors need to be closed for several more to spring open!

Whether it be new friends, opportunities or careers, the positive effects of learning Mandarin will be felt across all areas of your life.

Life in China becomes infinitely easier by knowing Chinese, watching TV, using apps, navigating supermarkets… the list is endless.

I felt much more comfortable using ride hailing and shopping apps in China once I could read most of the information on there without having to rely on Google translate (after all, those translations can be notoriously inaccurate!)

The job pool also becomes wider and richer once you get the hang of business Mandarin.

Positions that involve international trade, sales or cooperation become far more readily available to you once you’ve mastered another language! I even landed a position in marketing in Taipei after I’d been studying Mandarin for a couple of years.

Not to mention, speaking Mandarin is great for building office Play 关系 (Guānxì; relations)! 🤝

Making an effort to communicate in someone’s mother tongue will always be appreciated. In my experience, it also makes Mandarin speakers more relaxed when speaking English to me (probably because they realise quickly their English level is far higher than my Chinese level!)

Put simply, learning Mandarin makes you more capable and more competitive.

Benefits of Learning Mandarin – Understand China on an Authentic Level

As one of the Four Ancient Civilizations, China has a rich cultural history that spans over 3,000 years.

Sure, you can study and discover Chinese culture by reading about it in English.

👉 However, to truly appreciate China and its history, getting to grips with the language is the way to go.

From having greater appreciation of calligraphy to understanding the meanings of 成语 Chengyu, learning Mandarin offers unparalleled insight to Chinese culture.

I’ve even picked up new cultural hobbies along the way and without having a handle on Mandarin, my games of Mahjong and Chinese Chess would be a lot more confusing!

Benefits of Learning Mandarin – It’s Not THAT Hard

You’re probably feeling pretty sceptical about this one.

However, if you hear me out for a minute, you’ll definitely change your mind.

First things first, take a look at this chart:

What do you notice about the Chinese pronunciation curve? Yes, yes, it starts pretty high, but then?

It gets easier and easier.

A lot of students feel overwhelmed by the tonal system and characters of Chinese and give up in the early stages – and trust me, I’ve been there thinking I’ll be tone-deaf forever and never be able to recognise more than 10 characters!

However, once you get over that initial hill, everything starts to make much more sense and with Chinese, once you can walk, it’s not long before you can run!

Not to mention, the grammar is actually much easier than in languages like Korean, Russian and (in the image above) Japanese.

Having previously studied some Japanese, I stand by that graph. Whilst I was able to ‘hit the ground running’ with Japanese and its phonetic alphabet systems, I soon hit grammar mountain and my motivation slipped.

But in Mandarin? You’ll never have to conjugate a single verb, worry about whether a noun is masculine or feminine and Mandarin follows the same subject-verb-object structure as English.

See? Piece of cake! 🍰

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Benefits of Learning Mandarin – Food, food, food!

Real Chinese food is a far cry from your local takeaway – especially if you’re from the UK like me!

Time after time, foreigners arrive in China and ask where the sweet and sour chicken or chow mein is, only to be horrified when they realise they’ve been living an egg-fried-rice-filled lie.

There isn’t just one type of Chinese food – in fact, there are EIGHT great Chinese cuisines, and this only scratches the surface.

To get you started, here are the famous eight:

• Shandong Cuisine 山东菜
• Sichuan Cuisine 四川菜
• Cantonese Cuisine 粤菜
• Fujian Cuisine 福建菜
• Anhui Cuisine 安徽菜
• Zhejiang Cuisine 浙江菜
• Jiangsu Cuisine 江苏菜
• Hunan Cuisine 湖南菜

Knowing Mandarin gives you a far greater understanding of the cuisine in China.

It’ll also make it easier to order from that Chinese menu! I’ve been much more likely to try something new (and actually enjoy it) when I’ve been at least able to identify some of the key ingredients.

And sorry to bash on Google Translate again, but in my experience it has been pretty much useless at translating the often quirky names you find on menus.

Another key benefit to understanding Mandarin is being able to read about restaurants, cafes and bars that locals recommend on social media.

To give you a taste, here’s a video showing you breakfast in Shanghai!

Now let’s take a look at what it means to know Chinese in and out of China.

Knowing Chinese in China

Knowing Chinese in China is (unsurprisingly) a big advantage.

If you’re looking for a job in China that isn’t teaching English and you don’t know Chinese, you’re already at a disadvantage.

There are, percentage-wise, few jobs in China that don’t require Chinese, and the competition for those jobs is very fierce.

Just knowing Chinese to a working level will open up many more opportunities for you at the job seeking stage.

Chinese companies aren’t afraid to give promotions if you are good enough. If you land a job in China and apply yourself, you can end up high in the company hierarchy in a shorter time than it would take in most Western countries.

Even if you manage to land a position which doesn’t require Chinese, knowing Mandarin will still most likely get you ahead in China.

I’d also say that you don’t need to be fluent in Mandarin to get a job in China. I’ve come across several people with only basic Chinese conversation skills who were able to land positions in international companies!

By speaking the local language you can engage with your colleagues and managers on a different level.

No matter how well they might speak English, by engaging them in their own language, you will establish deeper relationships.

The Chinese workplace is still very much centred on interpersonal relationships. If you want to advance in your career you need to have the support of your colleagues and managers.

Chinese isn’t only important due to the interpersonal relationships.

If the company in question consists of a majority of Chinese people then most likely all meetings and announcements will be done in Chinese.

Understanding Mandarin will help you know what’s going on around you.

One friend of LTL learned Chinese and passed the HSK 6 exam.

While on exchange in China from his university, he got a part-time job as a technical translator at a European company.

Just before graduating, he was hired by the same company as operations manager, in part due to his excellent Chinese language ability, as well as his professional skills.

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Knowing Chinese Outside China

It is no secret that China’s economy has been having year-on-year growth.

Combined with a gradual but sustained opening up, it is no secret that Chinese language skills are getting more and more sought after around the world.

However, unless you are aiming to become a translator, just having language skills might not be enough.

Chinese, combined with a marketable skill like programming, marketing or something else can be a very powerful combination indeed.

This can act as a door opener to get into an industry or company which normally would be difficult to access.

Another friend from LTL landed a job straight out of university, at Scandinavia’s leading law firm on the back of her Chinese language skills combined with her law degree.

A company which normally only hires very experienced candidates.

A search for jobs requiring Chinese language nets over 90,000 results in the US alone on LinkedIn for example.

Industries as varied as automotive, tourism, media, retail, pharmacy and aviation among others are looking for Chinese speakers.

In addition to Chinese language, if you also know and understand Chinese culture and how things are done in China, this can likewise give you a boost in your career.

For example, regional managers who speak Chinese and understand China will have an advantage over their less worldly colleagues. This can be a short-cut for you to get into a management role.

Language and culture will also help in negotiating with Chinese counterparts, whether it is buying or selling, getting a good deal will surely make you an indispensable part of any team.

Brain Training!

Last but not certainly not least, a new language is the best kind of brain food!

If studying new Chinese characters or answering questions in Mandarin feels like a brain workout – that’s because it is!

Just like how bicep curls will grow your arms, learning a new language is shown to actually increase the amount of grey and white matter in your brain and improve your working memory!

There are even studies that suggest learning a language can help to prevent the onset of dementia by up to 5 years.

This has been great for someone like me, who naturally has a memory on par with Dory’s from Finding Nemo.

After all, adult life can be repetitive and lacking in cognitive challenges as we go through the daily grind. Studying Mandarin gives your brain new concepts to work around.

In Summary

So yes, over the years I’ve seen that studying Mandarin has provided people around me with new career opportunities and opened many professional doors (even if that’s just office gossip!)

But more than that, learning Mandarin has helped me to understand Chinese culture to a much greater depth and interact with so many more people than I could have previously.

Learning a language is so much more than learning new words.

It’s the first step to learning a whole new way of thinking and experiencing the world around you.

I’ve spent many, many hours studying Mandarin Chinese and even though I’m far from fluent, I’ve already reaped so many benefits from the experience and can’t wait to to continue learning!

Are you thinking about or currently studying Mandarin? Share your experiences in the comments section!

Benefits of Learning Mandarin || FAQ’s