Students attend a Mandarin class at Executive Mandarin. Coutesy of Executive Mandarin

Hong Kong has always been quick to follow new trends. Learning Mandarin is one of them as expats and local communities in the city and abroad are rushing to learn the language in the hope of making themselves more marketable at the workplace.

The desire to learn Mandarin, the language spoken by 1.3 billion people, however, is not solely for commercial purposes as many are truly interested in Chinese culture. Numerous recent publications, conferences, and novels testify to this trend.

Retail and business boom

Hong Kong businesses are attracted to the mainland's current robust retail and business boom. Wary Hong Kong investors know the value of the Chinese Yuan is increasing steadily against the local dollar which, much to their chagrin, is still pegged to the plummeting greenback.

But why speak Mandarin?

Pictures, showing students in different activities, are on display at Executive Mandarin. Coutesy of Executive Mandarin

From the retail perspective, Hong Kong's products, many imported from around the world, are seen as more reliable for the tourists from mainland. In response to this influx of eager customers seeking authentic luxury goods of both lower prices and taxes, Hong Kong retail staffs are increasingly encouraged by their managers to learn Mandarin in order to deal with their affluent clients from the mainland.

Attracted by the luxury goods like Prada, Louis Vuitton or everyday items like baby formula, diapers, toys, make-ups, cosmetics, many mainlanders love to go on shopping in Hong Kong. And to deal with these high-heeled clients, the local businesses need Mandarin-speaking staff.

One retail clerk at a Hong Kong branch of a major European luxury brand said her Mandarin skills were tested during the job interview, citing that she used it everyday as she estimated that about 25 percent of her customers are from the mainland.

She also uses Thai and Japanese, even though Cantonese is the most commonly used language at her workplace, followed by Mandarin, and English.

Also, in order to set up factories in Guangdong province a working knowledge of Mandarin is required in addition to a strong understanding of Chinese work culture.

Mandarin language schools

A lucrative market has opened up for Mandarin language schools here in Hong Kong. Particularly since the handover in 1997, more and more language schools are catering to expat professionals and Cantonese-speaking locals willing to learn Mandarin.

Helen Cheung is director at Executive Mandarin Limited, a language school established in Hong Kong in 2001. The school has also set up a center in Beijing, Shanghai and Paris.

"It is important to build relationships in China if you want to do business there," she said. "And communicating better is a significant part of that."

Learning Mandarin is commonly perceived as "easier" for native English speakers than learning multi-tonal Cantonese. "It's the exotic thing to do," one local Cantonese-speaking resident said.

Besides, business savvy people are quick to capitalize on the vast market: "Sell one ballpoint pen to 0.001 percent of the Chinese population and you will be a millionaire," the resident added.

Is Mandarin easy to learn?

At Executive Mandarin, students can have an access to a large number of books on learning Mandarin. Tiffany Wong

Some claim that Mandarin is easier to learn for English-speakers because of the presence of four tones instead of arguably six to nine tones required to speak Cantonese.

With respect to learning Mandarin, Cheung said: "Learning to speak can be achieved for most learners in a relatively quick span of time, but learning to read and write takes great dedication for those who have never learned Chinese characters."

Will the trend remain?

Whether or not Mandarin remains a trend is open to debate. All over the world business is conducted in different languages.

One foreign expat based in Beijing mentions there was a woman interested in taking a Chinese ayi (domestic help) with her to the Middle-East so that her children could continue to maintain their Mandarin skills.

"When you have people so much committed to Chinese as a second language, you know that language is on the verge of something big globally," she said.

Cheung predicts that learning Mandarin in Hong Kong will be essential while "globally, it will take many years before it rivals English which has been a global language for decades". She concedes, however, that "no doubt Mandarin will change the language landscape".

A multilingual society

Although Hong Kong's MTR metro system uses three main languages - Cantonese, Mandarin and English - there are opportunities here to learn other languages, too. These language courses are offered at consulates or by independent tutors seeking to supplement their income while stationed in Hong Kong. Among the languages taught are Russian, Spanish and German, as well as Arabic and Hebrew, in addition to other popular Chinese dialects like Shanghainese.

It is not always a question of business culture that defines what language residents want to learn in Hong Kong, nevertheless, it remains an international commercial hub that attracts all types of people and their mother tongue.

(HK Edition 07/09/2008 page4)