Have you ever wondered what the most widely spoken language in the world is? Well, it is Mandarin––the national language of China that is spoken by more than a billion of the world’s population. Lately, China has overtaken Japan as the country with the second highest GDP. Some experts believe that––owing to the economic depression in the United States and the growth of China’s economy––by 2016 China will overtake the United States as global superpower. In that case, while knowing English can be a huge asset, it is simply not going to be enough with China all set to become a financial center on the global stage.

Learning Mandarin, like any other language, will open up a new world of possibilities and a chance to explore one of the world’s most exotic cultures in and around Southeast Asia. There is a much greater demand for Chinese-speaking professionals in the West today as nonnative Mandarin speakers are relatively less than nonnative speakers of European languages. Furthermore, China is rapidly expanding its online presence thus making Mandarin increasingly useful for future communications.

After decades of global isolation, China is now trotting back to center stage by opening doors to foreign investment and business. Earlier foreigners learned Chinese simply because they were interested in the culture. Now learning Mandarin for business has become a common trend. Thus, Mandarin can soon become the gateway to the largest workforce in the world. Apart from being the official language of China, Mandarin is also regarded as one of the main languages in Taiwan and Singapore. In India too, numerous career opportunities await, with government enterprises as well as scientific and cultural exchanges looking to recruit Chinese-speaking individuals.

Though there is a plethora of universities around the world offering courses in Chinese language, the programs are often quite time-consuming and expensive. Thus an excellent alternative is to opt for online resources. Yet, the number of foreigners who have gone to China to learn Chinese has increased tremendously in the past 10 years. Even the UK has set aside an education fund to promote the learning of Chinese among its citizens as it has already become a new global language in the 21st century.

With the Western world having realized the impact China can have on their economic growth, India too needs to sit up and take notice of its giant Asian neighbor. Though the two Asian countries still lock horns over the border dispute, the relationship between them in terms of business and trade is positively poised and there will be ample opportunity here in India for people who can speak Mandarin.

The bottomline is that it is always advisable for students dealing with foreign trade and policy to strengthen their profile with a certification in Chinese language; it can open doors to a potential fortune.