[quote=“sjcma”]blueeee11, I don’t dispute that all things being equal, knowing the local culture and language is an advantage. How much of an advantage (or perceived advantage) is a different issue.
I’d say that the advantage is related to the industry in which you work and how far up the hierarchy you are. It’s been my experience the larger the corporation, the less this advantage becomes. Especially for ex-pat senior executives, it’s a nice to have but not a core requirement.
Ironlady laid out my thinking on “knowing Chinese” quite well, so I will not bother to expand on that point.[/quote]
Chinese language got me into the finance sector at the ground floor, with little to no finance experience. I’ve since moved up, and while I oversee a team of translators, it’s less important on a daily basis, as I have native speakers to deal with the Chinese stuff. I manage the translators, not oversee their quality. However, it is still an asset for me, especially taking foreign clients out and about, company visits, socialising and the like. I can and do the occasional impromptu verbal translation, such as when a group of investors I’m ferrying around suddenly want to stop and ask a question, but I’d always prefer to have a good bilingual native Chinese speaker do that. Probably the bigger asset is understanding what’s going on around me in a Chinese milieu and being able to explain it to someone with little or no experience, or better yet, second guess what they might find odd or interesting.
HG